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SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT, 
inr'rhe Sixth Annual Report of the Executive Committee of 
the Am. Anti-Slavery Society will appear in a few days, it will be 
sent to each member of the Society whose na>ne was enrolled at 
■ the Annual Meeting ; and to such Auxiliaries only whose present 
condition has been or may be made known to the Executive Com- 
mittee during the year. 



i 



f» 



4^ 



THE 



ANTI-SLAVERY EXAMINER-EXTRA. o^>it^in^ 
; ^i . ^- 1 ) 



EMANCIPATION 

IN THE 

WEST INDIES, IN 183 8. 



IMPORTANT TO THE UNITED STATES. 

False prophets were never stiller about their time-detected impostures than are the pro- 
slavery presses of the United State-s about the results of West India Emancipation. Now and 
then, for the sake of appearances, they obscurely copy into their immense sheets an incli or 
two of complaints, from some snarling West India paper, that the emancipated are lazy 
and wont work. But they make no parade. They are more taciturn than grave-stones. 

In the following closely printed columns, those who wish to know will find out precisely how 
the '■^ great experiment" has worked. They will find, 

1. The safety of abolition demonstrated — its safety in the worst possible case. 

2. That the colonies are prospering in their agriculture. 

3. That the planters conferred freedom because they were obliged to by pubHc opinion 
abroad. 

4. That freedom, oven thus imwillingly conferred, was accepted as a precious boon by the 
slaves — they were grateful to God, and ready to work for their masters for fair pay. 

5. That the mass of the planters have endeavoured, from the first, to get work out of the 
free laborers for as small wages as possible. 

6. That many of the attorneys and managers have refused fair wages and practiced extortion, 
io depreciate (he price of property, that they might profit thereby. 

7. Tliat all the indisposition to labor which has yet been exhibited is fully accounted for by 
these causes. 

8. That in spite of all, the ahohtion is workmg well for the honest of all parties. 



WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION, IN 183^ ' 

The immediate abolitionists hold that the any degree of igp<^rance or debasement to work 
change from slavery to freedom cannot be too the forfeiture- "i self-ownership, and pronounce 
sudden. They say that the first step in raising slavery cop^nued for such a cause the worst of 
tlie slave from his degradation should be that of all, ina!«i'uch as it is the robbery of the poor Re- 
making hira a proper subject of law, by putting causf be is poor. 

hira in possession of himself. This position they What light was thrown upon this doctrine by 

rest on the ground both of justice and expedien- the process of abolition in the Britisli AVcst In- 

cy, which indeed they believe to be inseparable diea from the 1st of August 1834 to the Ist of 

With exceptions too trifling to affect the question, June 1837, may be seen in the work of Messrs. 

tliey believe the laborer who feels no stimulus Thome and Kimball entitled, " EmancipatioB 

hgtthatofwages and no restraint but that of law, in the West Indies." That light continues to 

* Irthe most profitable, not only to himself and sa- shine. Bermuda and Antigua, in which th« 

•cilly at large, but to any employer other than a slaves passed instantaneously out of absolute 

brutal tyrant. The benefit of tfiis rule they claim slavery into full freedom, are living v,'itiicsses of 

for every man and woman living within this re- the blessing of heaven upon immediate emanci- 



public, till on fair trial the proper tribunal fehall pation. In Antigua, one of the old sugar colo- 
" r of i 
lienc^ 
JU 



have judged them unworthy of it. They deny nies, where slavery had had its full sway there has 
both the justice and expediency of permitting been especially a fair test of immediatisra, vnd 



Collected sef. 



WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION, IN 1838. 






tlie increasing prosperity of the island does the that adopted the principle of immediate cmanci. 

utmost lionor to the principle. After the fullest pation, have been the facts — and all the facts — 

inquiry on the point, INIessrs. Thome and Kini- up to the latest intelligence, 

ball say of this island: — The rest of the colonies adopted the plan pro- 

" There is not a class, or party, or sect, who do posed by the British government, which, contrary 
not esteem the abolition of slavery as a special to the wishes of the great body of British aboli- 
blessing to them. The rich, because it relieved tionists, made the slaves but partially free under 
them of ''property" which was fast becoming a the name of apprentices. In this mongrel con- 
disgrace, as it had always been a vexation and a dition they were to remain, the house servants 
tax, and because it has emancipated them from four, and the field laborers six years. This ap- 
the terrors of insurrection, which kept them all prenticeship was the darling child of that cxpe- 
their lifetime subject to bondage. The poor dicncy, which, holding the transaction from 
whites — because it lifted from off them the yoke wrong to right to be dangerous and difticult, il- 
of civil oppression. The free colored popula- lustratcs its wisdom by lingering on the dividing 
tion — because it gave the death blow to the pre- line. Theioffjrc any mischance that might have 
judicu that cruslied them, and opened the pros- occurred in any part of this tardy process would 
pect of social, civil, and political equality with have been justly attributable to gradnaUsm and 
the whites. The slaves — because it oroke open not to 77iim('diatism. The force of this remark 
their dungeons, led them out to liberty, and gave will be better seen by referring to the nature and 
them, in one munificent donation, tlieir wives, working of tlie apprenticeship as described in the 
their chi!dren,theirbodies,theirsouls-everything." book of Messrs. Thome and Kimball. We have 

In the emphatic language of the Governor, only room to say that the masters universally re- 

" It was jiniversal 1 1/ admitted thai cm^ncipa.tion garded tlic system as a part of the compensation 

bad been a great blessing to the island." or bonus to the slaveholder and not as a prepara- 

In November 1837, Lord Brougham tjius tory school for the slave. By law they wcro 

summed up the results of the Antigua experi- granted a property in the uncompensated labor 

ment in a speech in the House of Lords : — of the slaves for six years ; but the same law, by 

" It might be known to their lordsliips that in taking away the sole means of enforcing this la- 
one most important colony tlie experiment of in- bor, in fact threw the masters and slaves into a 
stant and entire emancipation had been tried, six years' quarrel in which they stood on ?ome- 
InSnitoly to the honor of tlie island of Antigua thing like equal terms. It was surely not to be 
was it, that it did not wait for the period fixed by wondered if the parties should come out of this 
the Legislature, but had at once converted the contest too hostile ever to maintain to each other 
state of slavery into one of perfect liberty. On the relation of employer and cmploj'ed. Thi.'' 
tiie 1st of August, 1831, the day fixed by act of six yeara of vexatious swinging like a penduhmi 
Parliament for the commencement of a ten years' over the line between bondage and liberty was 
apprenticeship, the Legislature of that colony, to well calculated to spoil all the gratitude and glo- 
thc immortal honor of their wisdo;n, their justice, ry of getting across. 

and their humanity, had abolished the system of It was early discovered that the masters gene- 

appr.mticcship, and had absolutely and entirely rally were disposed to abuse their power and get 

struck the fetters off from 30,000 slaves. Their from their apprentices all that could by any 

lordships would naturally ask whether the experi- means be extorted. The friends of humanity in 

mcnt had succeeded ; and whether this sudden Great Britain were aroused, Mr. Sturge, a dis- 

emancipation had been wisely and politically tinguishcd philanthropist of Birmingham, accom- 

done. He should move for s:omc returns which panied by Rlessrs. Scoble, Harvey and Lloyd, 

he would venture to say would prove that the ex- proceeded to the West Indies on a rni.ssion of in- 

perimcnt had entirely succeeded. He would give quiry, and prosecuted their investigation contcm- 

tliL'ir lordships .some proofs : First, propcrt}' in poraneously with Messrs. Thome and Kimball, 

that island had Tmcn in value ; secondly, with a Their Report produced a general conviction in 

very few exceptions, i^nd those of not greater im- England, that tlic planters had forfeited all claim 



portanco than occurred .'u England during har- 
vest, there was no deficiency in the number of 
laborers to be obtained when la^orers v.'ere v/ant- 
td ; thirdly, offences of all sorts, fr,?in capital of- 
fences downwards, had decreased ; ai?d this ap- 



to retain their authority over the appreni:cos, and 
the goveruEient was accordingly' petitioned im. 
mediately to abolish the system. This it was 
loth to do. It caused inquiries to be instituted ir,' 
the colonies, especially in Jamaica, with the 



poared from returns sent by the inspector of evident hope of overthrowing the charges of Mr. 

slaves to the governor of that colony, and by' him Sturge. The result more than confirmed those 

transmitted to tiic proper authority here ; ai.'d, charges. The government still plead for delay, 

fourthly, tlic exports of sugar had increased : du- and brought in a bill for the improvement of iho 

ring tiic three years ending 1831, the average ap'^'Jrenticeship. In the progress of these |^- 

yearly export vvas 165,000 cwts., and for thc^ oeedin\'^s. urged on as they were by the licavflu 

three subsequent years this average had increased high ciithi''siasm of the British nation, man^ oT 

to 189,000 cwts., being an increase of 21,000 the planters ."Nearly jjcrecived that their rlKHptt^ 

cwts , or one clear seventh, produced by fret of power during the remaining two years of,.t% 

labor. Nor were tlie last three years productive apprenticc.'ihip "had become worth less to them 

Hcasons; for in 1H3.') there was a very severe and than the good will v^^hich they might get by 

destructive hurricane, and in the year 1836tl»ere voluntarily'^ giving it up. Whether it was this 

was such a drought that water was obliged to be motive operating in good fait.'»i "r a hope to cscajie 

imported from Barbados." philanthropic interference for i.Ve future by yield. 

Of such sort, with regard to both the colonies in<' to it« full claim, and thus gain M clear f\r\d 



» 



WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION, IN 1838. 



to oppress unaer the new system of wages, one 
thing is certain tlie chartered colonies, suddenly, 
and to the surprise of many, put the finishing 
stroke to the system and made their apprentices 
free from the 1st of August, 1838. The crown 
colonies have mostly imitated their example. 

The following table exhibits the extent and 
population of ttiese colonies. 





o:i 


Ex- 
tent, 
sq. m 


Population. 


Possessions. 


&l 


White. 


Slaves. 


F. Col. 




(■ Anguilla,t 


1650 




365 


2,388 


327 




Antigua,* 


\mi 


108 


1,980 


2.1,537 


3 S9i 


m 


BalianiaSit 


16J9 


4,400 


4,240 


9,268 


2.991 


c 


Barbados,! 


\m!) 


166 


14,959 


82,807 


5,146 


rt 


Bermudas,* 


1611 


22 


3,905 


4,608 


,73S 


■A 


Dominica, t 


17«3 


27.3 


8J0 


15,392 


3,606 


_o 


GreHuda,t 


1783 


T2> 


801 


24.145 


3,786 




Jan>uica,t 


1655 


6,400 


37,000 


311,6.42 


55,000 




Alontserrat,t 


16;« 


47 


330 


6,262 


814 


» 


Nevis.t 


1628 


20 


700 


0,259 


2,0110 


^ 


St. Clnistophers,t 
St. Luoia,t 


1032 

180?i 


6S 

58 


1,612 
972 


19,310 
13.661 


3.'HiO 
3,718 




St Vincent,t 


1783 


130 


1,301 


2.-!,5Hy 


2,834 


.2 


TobagOjt 


176 5 


187 


322 


12,556 


1,164 


«Q 


Ttiuidadjt 


1797 


2,400 


4 201 


24,006 


15,956 




Tortoli, or > 
Virgin Isles, t > 


1666 





800 


5,399 


607 


Total, B. W. I. 




14.406 


7 J ,328 


593,879 


105,572 


Cape of Good Hope, 
f I5erbici>t 






43 000 


35,500 
20,f,t5 
65,556 


29,000 






523 


Ouiana \ Demararat 


1803 




3,006 


6, .360 


( KssequibOjl 
Honduras, 












1650 


62,750 


2'50 




2,100 


2,300 








8.000 


76,000 


15 000 











To 


tal, 


129,10-;793,6S0 


1.50, .103 



The unanimity V!i\.\i which the apprentice- _ 
ship was given up i.«; a most remarkable and' 
instructive fact. la the Council and Assembly 
of Monlserrat; there was an unanimous deci- 
sion in favor of Emancipation as early as Fe- 
bruary 1838. In the legislature of Tortola, 
whicii passed the bill in April 1838, the oppos- 
in? p.irty was small. In that of Barbados the 
bill was pa-sed 'on the 15th of May with but 
07ie dissenting voice. In that of Jamaica, the 
bill seems to have been passed on ihe 8Lh ol 
June, and the Jamaica Times remarks : — " No 
dissentient voice was heard within the walls 
of the Assembly, all joined in the wish so often 
expressed, that the remaining term of the ap- 
prenticeship should be cancelled, that the ex- 
citement produced by a law which has done 
inconceivable harm in Jamaica, in alienating 
the affections of her people, and creating dis- 
cord and disaffection, should at once cease. 
Thank Godi it is now nearly at an end, and 
we trust that Jamaica will enjoy that repose, 
so eagerly and anxiously sought after, by all 
who wish the island well." 

The^e t"ac:s come down upon the question ol 
(he safeiy ot ivimediate emancipation with an 
•a fortiori, a much more then. For it is admitted 
on all har;d- that the apprenticeship had " alie- 
nated the affections of the people;" they were 
in a state less favorable to a quiet sequel, than 
they were before ine first of August, 1834, yet 
•he danger was not thought of. The safety 
was an argument my«yor of emancipation, not 

'Emancipated entirely on the lal. of August, 1834, 
tEinancipatod entirely on ibe l.it. of August, 1838, by 

vote of the local legislatures in the chartered Colonics ; 

and by Governor and Council, in the Crown Colonics. 



against it. The raw head and bloody bone.s 
had vanished. The following is a fair exhi- 
bition of the I'eeliiig of the most iiiflueiilial 
planters, in regard to the safety of the step. 

From the Barbadian, May 9, 1838. 

AT A MEETING OF THE BOARD OF LEGISLATIVE 

COUNCIL, IN THE NEW COUKT HOUSE, APRIL 

24l!i, 1838. 

The Lord Bishop rose and spoke as follows : 
" Mr. Preside7it, and Gentlemen of the Coun- 
cil, 

' I was informed yesterday that, during my 
absence Jroin this island, the members recorded 
iheir opinion as to the expediency of absolute- 
ly abolishing the apprenticeship in August, 
1838. I am most anxious to record my entire 
concurrence in this resolution, but I wish it to 
be understood that I do not consider the mea- 
sure as called for by any hanlships, under 
which the laboreis in i his island are suflering — 
nor Irom the want of any esseniial comfort — 
nor from the deprivation of any thing, which a 
laborer can fairly claiai from his master; still 
1 do express my concurrence in the resolution 
of the board, and I do so on these grounds : that 
I am satisfied the measure can be safely carried 
in this island, and if safely, then I leel justly; 
for I consider the very important inieresis which 
are involved in the measure. I must confess, 
too, that I am unwilling the Barbados should 
be Ijehind any oilier island, especially in a mea- 
sure which may be carried both safely and just- 
ly, and where its example may be of such be- 
neficial consequence. I am just retu red from 
visiting the Northern Islands of ihe Diocese. 
I have gone over every part of Torio'a, and 
though it is far more feriile than the Off In- 
lands, yet even these arc sufficiently productive 
for the laborer to raise the lesser and necessary 
provision of life, — andyetwiih these islands in 
iheir very face, the Legislature of Tortola has 
pa'^sed ihe act of abolition. Some of the pro- 
prietors were opposed to it, but they have now 
given up their opposition; and I heard, whilst 
in Antigua, not only that the act had passed, 
but that on the day of iis passing, or the follow- 
ing day, some of the leading proprietors rode 
through the island, and were met by the people 
with expressions of the utmost gratitude, re- 
garding the act as a boon granted to ihcm by 
their masters. At Nevis the act has pa.sscd. 
At St. Christopher's the council are in fivor of 
its passing, and with Nevis emancipated in iis 
vicinity, there is little doubt hut the Act must 
pass. At Montscrrat also it has passed. At 
Antigua, which I visited last year, I found that 
every thing was proceeding quietly and regu- 
larly. I found too, the planiers in high spirits, 
and some estates, which had been given up, 
restored; and the small pitches and tenements 
of the free pecple, commencing last year, now 
in a very satisfactory state of cultivation. Ii 
is po.ssible, indeed, that these last mentioned, 
unless the population is proporlifuinbly increas- 
ed, may affect the oultivaion of the larger es- 
tates, but there they are, and flourishing, as I 
have described, whilst I was in the island. A 
contiguous, though abmdoned estate was pur- 
chased by Sir Henry Martin for about 9,50Oi. 



WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION, IN 1838. 



cunenry, being 3,000/. more than he had offer- 
ed a lew yeans previously. To compare Bar- 
bados wiih any other i.sland, eiiher as to pcpu- 
lation, wealth, or slate of agriculiure, is un- 
necessary. 1 have seen nothing like the com- 
mercial "activity which I saw in the stree s 
ye.sterday, except at St. Thomas; aiid I feel, 
therefore, on all ihtse grounds, that the act may 
be passed safely and justly. At the same lime 
1 am not unmindiul or insensible to the siate of 
public opinion in the mother country, nor to 
(he m ny new and harassing annoyimces to 
which toe proprietors may be expsed during a 
P'utracfed continuance of the apprenticeship. 
I request that my lull concurrence in the reso- 
kniori of the council, may hi aecorJed on the 
minu:es of tliis day's proceedii)gs." 

Such is the testimoiiy ot a witness in no 
wi.se warped by prejudice in favor of the anti- 
slavery party 

Tlie debases which took place in the legisla- 
tures of boih Barbados and Jamaica, are full 
of simi.ar testimony, uttered by men every way 
qualifitd to bear witness, and under influences 
which relieve their testimony from every taint 
of suspicion. 

In the legislature of Jamaica, on the ques- 
tion of a Committee to bring ia a Bill, Mr. 
Good remarked, " He could say that the ne- 
groes from their general good conduct were* 
deserving of the boon. Then why ftot give ii 
with a good heart ? why exhibit any bjd feel- 
ing ab -ut the matter 1 There were many 
hunorable gentlemen who hadb'nefitted by the 
pressure from without, v. ho owed their rank 
if) socitty and their seats in that huuse to the' 
mda^^try of the negroes. Why should they 
now show a bad heart in the ma'ter"? — Nine 
leuths of the proprietors of this i>lr\nd had de- 
termined upon giving up the apprenticeship. 
HunJieds of thousands were to be benefi ted — 
we/e to take their stations as men of society, 
nnd he hoped the born wuuld not be retaided 
by a handful of men who owed their all to 
slavery." 

Mr. Dallas said, — " The abolition of the re- 
maining term of apprenticeship must take place : 
let them then join hand and heart in doing it well, 
and with such grace as we now could. Let it 
have the appearance of a boon from ourselves, 
and not in downright suhynisoinn to the coercive 
measures adopted Inj the Biilish Parliamejit." 

After a committee had been- apixdn.'ed to 
prepare and b.ing in a Bill lor the ab;diuou of 
the apprenticeship, a m-m!>er rose anrl proposed 
tbit the SBth of June should be its terminati^ n. 
We give his speech as lej/oited in the Jamatca 
papers, to shuw how f.iiiatical even a slave- 
holder may become. 

'•On the members resuming their septs, Mr. 
FTaut proposed that it b? an instruction to the 
commitee nproinied lo bring in the bill for 
abolish ngthe remainder of the apprenticeship, 
to insert a clause in it, that the operaiion o; 
that bill should coiii.iicrjce on the 38ih of June, 
ihai being the day ap.iointed for ihe coronaiion 
of ilie Cluecn. He Jilt proud in teUi-ng the house 
th-at he was the rcpresenloiive of the black popu- 
laHon. lie iras sent there hii the blacks and his 
other friends. The while Christians had their 
representatives, the people of color had their 



representatives, and he hoped shortly to see the 
day when the blacks would stnd in their own re- 
presentatives. He wanted the thing done at 
once. Sir, said the honorable member waxino 
warm.- It was nonsense to delay ii. It could 
be done in ihiee lints as he said befoie, dely 
1840, and put in 1838. That was all thai they 
had to do. It it were possible let the thing be 
done in two words. He went ther to do his 
duty to his constituents, and he was determined 
to do so. His black friends louked up to him 
to protect them — and he would press his mo- 
tion that all the apprentices in the island should 
be crowned on the 28 h of June. (Tnunder.ng 
roars of lau:.hter.) He was as independent as 
any honorsble member, and would deliver his 
sentiment, vvitluart caiing who were and who 
were not pleastd. He was possesstd of pro- 
peity in- apprentices — he had an estate u-ith 
nearly two hundred negroes, that he was deter- 
mined to croicn un the ^Slh of June. (Increased 
roars of laushier in the house, and at the bar.) 
He would not be laughed down. His proper- 
ties were nut encun;bered. He woU;d tjot owe 
anything on them af er they were paid for, ar'd 
that he could du. (Loud laughter.) He was 
determined to have his opinion. As he had 
said before, the 28lh day of Jun > being fixed 
for the cornnation ol ail the negroes in the 
island, ihat is the day they ought to be released 
from the apprenticesiiip. (Thundering and 
deafening roars of laughter). (Here the ht- 
norable member was told tliai the Glueen was 
to be crowned on that day.) Ah, well, he had 
made a ra'stake, but he would lell the house 
the truth, he had made up his mind to give his 
apprentices freedom on that day, but he did not 
wish to do it toithcut his neiglibors doing the 
same, lest they should say he was setting a bad 
example. He would press his motion to a di- 
vision. It had been seconded by his honorable 
friend on his right. — (Aside, " Good, didn't 
you promise to second ill") The h(>norable 
men;ber then read his motion, and harided it 
up lo the clerk." 

The " mistake" of this liberal descendant of 
Israel, which excited so much merriment was, 
after all, not a very unfortunate one, if the 
" crown" of manhood is more important than 
that of monarchy. The members objected to 
so near an approach to v-nmed aiisni, noi, how- 
ever, be it remarked, on account of the unfit- 
ness of the apprentices, (^laves) but iheir own 
convenience. Among those wiio ri. plied to 
Mr. Hart, was Mr. Osborn, of unmingled African 
blood, born a slave, and who, we are informed, 
w'.-is a successful competitor for th.- seat he now 
occupies against ihe very man who formerly 
claimed him as property. Mr. Osborn nnd his 
partner Mr. Jordon were editors rd' the Ja- 
maica Watchman, and had contended manfully 
for libirty when it was a dangerous word. 
Mr. Osborn said : — '' lie was aslonishi d at the 
gallopinc: liberality which seemed to have 
seized some lumtutiblc meiidjers. now there 
was nothing to conend for. Their liberaliiy 
seemed to have outrun all prudence. Wliere 
were ihey an i t' eir liberality when it was al- 
most deatii to broaeli ihe ques'ion of slavery ? 
What had become of their philanthropy ? Bui 
no, it was nol cjnvenient 'hen. The stream 



WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION, IN 1838. 



was too strong for th"rn to resist. Now, how- 
ever, whea iiie qutsiion was finally seliled, 
when notlung remained lor them to do, ii was 
the tiiuG that some honorable gentemen began 
io clamor their liberalit}', and b.-gau a race, 
whosh.iuld be the first, or who should have 
the honor of first tenninutmg the apprentice- 
ship, lie hoped the motion would be with- 
drawn, and the discussion put an end to." 

What had become of the visions of blood 
and slaugh er 1 Could there be more impres- 
.•^ive tes imony to the safety of Emancipadon in 
all, even the west ca-e^ 1 

We might add to ihis testimony that of the 
univer.-al newspaper pres^ of the British We^t 
India colonies. We have room, ho*ever, to 
select only from a few of the well known op- 
ponents of freedom. 

" We seriously call upon our representatives 
to consider well all tsie bearings of the question, 
and if they c-innot resi-t effectually these en- 
croachments 01 the Imperial G iveniment, adopt 
the remaining alternative of saving tliemselves 
from the infliction, by giving up at once and 
entirely, the iioiu' of contention between u-, 
Thus only shall we disarm, if anything in rea- 
son or in nature can, our enemies of their slan- 
derous weapons of offence, and secure in as 
far as possible, a speedy an! safe return of 
peace and prosperity to this " distracted" colo- 
ny. — Wiihout this sacrifice on our parts, we 
see no shelter from our sufferings — no amelio- 
ration of present wrongs — no hype for the fu- 
ture; but on the contrary, a systematic and re- 
morseless train liid for the ultimate ruin of 
every proprietor in the country. With this 
sacrifice, which cm only be to any extent to a 
few, and which the wisdom of our legislature 
may possibly find out some means or other of 
compensation, W3 have the hope that the sun- 
shine of Jamaica's prospeiily shall not receive 
any fuither diminution ; but shall rather dawn 
again with renewed vigor; when all shall be 
alike free under the proieciiun ol' the same law, 
and the same law-givers; and alhh ill be alike 
amenable to the powers that punish without fa- 
vor and without aflJection." — Jamaica Standard. 

" Tnere is great rea'-on to expect that many 
Jamaica proprietors will anlicipaie the [leriod 
established by the Slavery Abolition Act for 
the termination of the apprenticeship. They 
will, as an act of grace, and with a view to 
their future arrangements with their negr.oes, 
terminate the apprenticeship eiiher of all at 
once, or by giving immi'dirie fr^^edom lo the 
most deserving; try the effect of this gift, and 
of the example aftbrded to the apprentices when 
they see those who have been dischaiged from 
the apprenticeship working on the esiates for 
wages. If such a course is adopted, it wili af- 
ford an additional motive for inducing the I,e- 
gislatuie 'o consider whether the good feeling 
of the laborin:? popiihton, and their fuir.rc 
conn ction with their former employers, may 
not be promoted by permit' ing them to owe to 
t>e grace of their own Legi-latiire the termi- 
naion of the appreniii-eship as soon as the re- 
quisii? legislation for the new stale of things 
has bcpi^ adopted." — Jama'ca Dspalch,. 

Of such sore as this is the testimony from all 
the Colonies, most abundantly published in the 



Emancipator and other abolition p .p:-rs, lo the 
point of the safety oleaiire E nancipaiion. At 
uie time when ih- slip was t ik u, it was uni- 
veisally concluiicd ihatso lar from being dan- 
gerous It pri.mis. d tiie greattsi safety. It would 
nut only put an end to the danger upprehcnUed 
Irom the foreign imcrference of the abol tion- 
ists, but it would conciliate the neffroes .' And 
we are nut able to find any oce who professes 
to be disap'iointed vviih the result thus far. 
The only evil now complameil of, is that ihe 
new freemen do not in s ime m-tances choose 
io work on tlie terms ofteied by the planters. 
They have shed no man's blood 'I'liey have 
committed no depiedalion. They peaceably 
obey the laws. Ail this, up to the latest dite, 
is universally admitted. JNeiiher does any one 
now pri^-sume to prophesy anything different for 
the future. 

INDUSTRY. 

On the one topic of the industry of the 
Emancipated people, the West Indian papers 
give the most conflicting accounts. Some re- 
present them as laboiing with a'arrity, dili- 
g-nce and effr-ct wherever "anything like an 
adequate compensation i> offered. It i? assert- 
ed by some, and not di nied b/ any authorities 
that we have seen, that the eniincipated are 
industriously at work on Ijiose estatts where 
the mast, rs voluntar^iv relinqui-hed the i.p- 
prenticeship befoie ih ar>t of August and met 
their frted people in good faith. But m-s' of 
the papers, especially in Jamaica, complain 
grievously that the freed people will work on 
no reasonable terms. We give a fair spec men 
from one of the Jamaica papers, on which 
our political editors choose most to rely for 
their information : — 

'' In referring to the state of the country this 
week, we have still the same tale to tell of little 
work, and that li tie indifferently done, but ex- 
orbitantly charged for ; and whi-rever resisted, 
a general ''sin lie" is the consequ-nce. Now 
this, whatever more favourab.e compli-xion the 
interested and sinister motives of (^h rs may 
attempt to throw around it, is the real state oJ. 
matters upon nine-tenths of the properties suu- 
ated in St. James's, Wesimoreiand, ar.d Ha- 
noveK In Trelawny they appear to bi doing 
a little better ; but that only arises, we aie 
confident, from the longer pur.^es, a-.id patience 
of endurance under exorbitant wa'ges, exhibit- 
ed by the general! y of the mar^agcrs of that 
parish. Let them wait till th^jy find they can 
no longer continue making s'.igur at its prcsenl 
expensive rate, and they wijl then find whether 
Trelawny is substantially in a better conditio^i 
than eitlier of the othor panics." — Standard, 
quoted in ihe Morning Journal of Nov. 2 

This is the " tale " indeed, oY a great part of 
the West India papers, sung to the same hum 
drum tuiie ever since the first of August ; and 
so failhful'y echoed by our own pr> .slavery 
press that niany of our estimable f- How citi- 
zens have given it up that the great "experi- 
ment" has turned out unfavorably, and ih it the 
c dored population of the West Indies are ra- 
pidly sinkiifr from the condition o( stares to 
tha*4 of idle freemen. W' re we all in a posi- 
tion perfectly disinterested and above the peon- 



WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION, IN 1838. 



liar influfnce ot slaveiy, we mi^ht | erhaps 
consider ih s- complaints as making for, raiher 
than against, tlie charactei olthe i:.tnaucipated 
and 'he caus- of freed in, inasmuci as they 
p ove tlie funnel slaves to have bo h the di-cie- 
lion and the s, irit which should cuaractense 
freemen. Bm to the peculiar optics which 
abound m ihese United Staie> it iiiiiy be neces- 
sary to show the entire picture. 

'I'o prove in ihe firsi place the f^cneral false- 
hood of the complaints thems Ives it is only 
necessary to advert to recent official documeuts. 
For our present purpose it will be sufficient to 
refer lo Jamaica. The legi-lature was con- 
vened on the 3Uth of Octob-r and addressed by 
the Governor Sir Lionel Smith in a speech of 
■which the following extract p.rtains to uur sub- 
ject : — 

" Gentlemen of the Council, 
" Mr. Speaker, and Gentlemen of the House of 
Assembly, 
" The most important event in the annals of 
colonial history has taken place since 1 last had 
the pleasu>-e ot meeting the lesislatuie of this 
Island ; and I am hap^y in being able to de- 
clare that the conduci. of the laboring popula- 
tion, who wore then tbe objects of your liberal 
and enlightened policy, entitles them to the 
highest praise, and amply proves how WELL 
THEY HAVE DESERVED the boon oj free- 
dom. 

*' It was not to be expected that the total ex- 
tinction of the apprenticeship law wou'd be fol- 
lowed by an in-tantineous return to active la- 
ta )r, but feel in'^ as I do the depest intere.-tin 
the suc'-essful lesult of the great measure n iw 
in progress, I sincerely C' ng atulate you and 
the country at la'ge, on the improvement 
wh ch is diily taking place ii the re-umaion 
of indus'.ionshabits,\in'l I TRUST THERE 
IS EVERY PROSPECTOF AGRICULTU- 
RAL PROSPERITY.' 

Such i-. the tcsUmony of a Governor who is 
no stranger in th? West Indies and who was' 
put in 'he place oi Lord Sligo as more accept- 
able to the pljnters. But what said the House 
ol Assemb y in reply ■?— a House made up 
chiefly ot attornies who had iiiore interest than 
any other men in the continuance of the old sys- 
tem, and who, as wll p esenily b ■ shown, « ere 
rot unwilling to have the " experiment" fail 1 
They speak as f jUows : — 

" May it Please your Excellency, 
" We, her Majesty's dutiful ami loval sub- 
jerts, the Assembly of Jamaica, thank your 
Excellency for jour speech at the opening of 
the se sion. 

" The House join your Excellencv in bear- 
ing testimony TO THE PEACEABLE MAN- 
NER in which the laboring population have 
conducted themselves in a state of FREIE- 
DOM. 

" It cenainly was not to be expected that so 
great a change i>i the condition of Ihe people 
wottld be fo lowed by an immediate return to 
active lab It. The Hou-e, howr-ver, are wil- 
ling to believe that some deg'ee of improve- 
ment is taking place, and they sincerely join 
in the HOPE expressed by your Exc ell ney. 
that the agricultural interests of the Island 



may ultimately prosper, by a resumption of in- 
dustrious habits on ihe part of our peasantry 
in their n>=w condition." 

This .settles th ■ qut stion. Those who will 
not be convinced by such documents as these 
that the mass of the Emancipled in Jamaica 
are ready to do their part in the sy.-lem of free 
labor, would not be convinced it one lose from 
the deid to prove it. 

We are now prepared to investigate the 
causes of the compla nts, and inquire why in 
numerous cases the negroes have refused to 
Work. Let us first go back to the deoa es in the 
Jamaica Legi-liuire on the passage of the 
Emancipatioij bill in June, and see wheiher we 
can discover the temper in which it was passed, 
and the piospect of good fa'th in its execution. 
We can hardy doubt ihai some mmbeis, and 
Some especial! V from whose speeches i n that 
occasion we have already qui ted, designed 
really to comer ihe " boon ofireedom." But 
others spoke very differently. To understand 
their language we must commence with the 
Governor's speech at the opening of the ses- 
sion : — 

" Gentlemen of the Council, 
" Mr. Speaker, and Gentlemen of the Assembly, 
" I have called you together, at an unusual 
season, to take into your consideration the state 
of the I-land under the Laws of Apprentice- 
ship, for ihe labouring pcpulanon. 

" I need not refer you to ihe agitation on this 
subject ihroughout the Brit sh Empire, or to 
the discussions upon it in Parliament, where 
the honorable efforts of ihe ministry were 
barely found sulhcient to preserve the original 
dnraiion of the Laws, as an (jbligaiion of the 
National faith. 

" I shall lay before you some despatches on 
this subject. 

" Gentlemen, 
" Gfneral agitation and Parliamentary inter, 
ference have not, I am afraid, yet terminated. 

" A corresponding excitement has been long 
going on among the apprentices themselves, but 
SI ill they have rested in sober and quiet hopes, 
re'ying on your generosity, that you will ex- 
tend to them that boi n which has been granted 
to their class in other Colonies. 
" Gentlemen of tht Council, 
" Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the Assembly, 
•"In this posture ofaff.tirs, it is my duty to 
declare ray sentiments, and disiinctly lorecorn. 
mend to yon the early and equal abolition of the 
apprenticeship for all classes. I do so in confi- 
dence that the apprentices will be found wor- 
thy of freedom, and that it will operate as a 
double blessing, by securing also the future in- 
terests of the p'nniers. 

" I am commanded, however, to inform you 
that her Majesty's ministers will not entertain 
any question of further coi pcnsation. But 
should your views be opposed to the policy 1 
recommend, I would entreat you to conside»" 
well how impracticable it will become to carr^'j on 
coercive labor — always difScu't, it wou.d in 
future fe in peril of constant comparisjn with 
other ccl nies made free, and with those es- 
(«tes in this island madefree by individual pro- 
prietors. 



WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION, IN 1838. 



" As Governor, unaer these circumstances, 
and I never shrink from any of my responsibi- 
lities, I ■pronounce it physically impossible to 
maintain the apprenticeship with any hope of suc- 
cessful agriculture. 

" Gentlemen of the Council, 
Mr. Speaker, and Gentlemen of the Asscmbh/. 

" Jamaica is in your hinds— she requres 
repo^e, by the removal of a law which has 
equally tormented the laborer, and disappointed 
the planter— a. law by which man siill con- 
strains mm in unnatural servitude. This is her 
first exigency. Fur her i'lilure welfare she ap- 
peals to your wisdom to legi>late inthespidi of 
th3 times, with liberality and benevolence to- 
wards all classes." 

When such a man as Sir Lionel Smitn pro- 
nounced it no long-^-r practicable to carry on co- 
ercive labor, he must have b^en abold'as well 
as a ra~h planter who would venture to hold on 
to the old system under Lord Glene'g's im- 
provement Act. Accordingly we find some of 
the staunchest advocates of slavery, men wno 
had been fattening on the oppression of the ap- 
prentices up to that moment, the first, and the 
most precipitate, in their proposals of abolition. 
Mr. Hyslop, Mr. Guy and others were for act- 
ing at once on the Governor's speech without 
relerrm? it to a committee. The former said : 
' He believed that a proposition would be ma le 
to abandon the apprenticeship from the 1st ol 
August, but he icould say let it be abandonedfrom 
Sunday ne«et. He would therefore move that 
the speech be made the order of the day for to- 
morrow." 

Mr. Guy said: — 

" The Governor's speech contained nothing 
more than what every Gentlemen expected, 
and what every Gentlemen, he believed, was pre. 
pared to do. In short he would state that a bill 
had already been prepared by him, which he in. 
tended to introduce to.morrow, for the abolition 
of the apprenticeship on the 1st of August next." 

Both these gentlemen are well known by the 
readers of Jamaicapapers as obstinate defenders 
of slavery. The lat er was so passionately de- 
voted to the aba>es of the apprenticeship that 
Lord Shgo was obliged to dismiss him from the 
post ot Adjutant General of militia. In the ar- 
dor of his atachment to the " peculiar institu- 
tion" of getting work without pay, he is report- 
ed to have declared on a public occa-^ion, that 
tbe British ministry were a "parcel of rep- 
tiles "and that the "English nation was fast 
going to the dogs." In another part of the de- 
bate :— 

"Mr.Grv hoped the house would not sro into a 
discussion of the nature oj the apprenticeship,or the 
terms upon which it was forced upon us by the 
government. All that he knew about the mat- 
ter was, that it was a part and parcel of the 
compensation. Government had so declared 
It. In short it was made law. He could not 
help believing that the hon. member for Tre- 
lawny, was arguing against the dictates of his 
own honest heart— that he came there cut and 
dry with a speech prepared to defend the o-o. 
oernment." " 

Mr. Barclay, to whom, some years ago, the 



planters gave a splendid service of plate for Ms 

mgenious defence of slavery against the terrible 

pen of James Stephen, said " it appeared to be the 

general feeling of the house that the apprentice 

ship should be done away with. Be that as it 

may, he was free to say that in that part of thr- 

isfand he was from, and ccrtaiidy it was a lam-e 

and wealthy district, the apprenticeship system 

had icorked ic«Z/, and all panics appeared' ,:,iis- 

hcd with it He denied that there e.xistcd any 

necessity to disturb the working of the system 

It would have gradually glided into absolute 

ireedom if they were permitted to regulate their 

own affairs, but the government, or rather the 

people of England, had forced on the predicament 

m which they were placed. The ministry could 

not help themselves— They were driven to vio- 

late the national compact, not in express words 

It is true, but in fact. It was, however, the fnr'n- 

of public opinion that operated in producin.V tlu- 

change Tiiey were placed in a situation Irom' 

which they could hardly extricate themselves.— 

lliey had no alternative, he was afraid, but to mt 

along vjith the stream." 

Mr. Hamilton Brown, who at the commence- 
ment of the apprenticeship came in to a Special 
Magistrate's court and publiclv told him that un 
less he and his colleagues ''V/,Z their duty b,/ 
having recourse to a frequent and vigorous apvlu 
cation of the lash, there would be rebellion inthf 
Pfrisji {of St. Ann's .') in less than a month, and 
all the responsibility of such a calamity jeould 
rest on their shoulders" .' discoursed in the follow- 
ing manner. "It was always understood, for the 
apprenticeship had become marketable. Proper 
ties had been bought and sold with them, their 
time had been bought by others, and by them- 
selves. •' 

"He had no hesitation in saying, that tlic state, 
raents which had been made in England again< 
the planters were as false as //e.7— they had been 
concocted here, and sent home by a i)arccl of 
spies in the island. They were represented as a 
cruel set of men, as having outraged the fcclinna 
of humanity towards the negroes, or in matters 
m which they were concerned. This was false 
He did not mean to deny that there were a few 
iitstances of cruelty to the apprentices, but then 
those were isolated cases, and was it not hard 
that a hue and cry should be raised agaiiiRt the 
whole body of planters, and all made ^T sutler on 
account of those few. He would say that ther.- 
was a greater disposition to be cruel to tlie no. 
gioes evinced by young men arriving in this 
island from England, than by the planters. There 
was, indeed, a great deal of difficulty in restrain. 
ing them from doing so, but the longer they Vred 
in the country, the more kind and kvmai'ie thcv 
became. The negroes loere better off here, than 
many of the people of Great Brilai",;. and thev 
would have been contented, had it not been for 
the injudicious interference of some of the Special 
Justices. Who had ever heard of nc-rroes being 
starved to death ? Had they not rca'^'d accounts 
m the English papers ot men dcstrovino- their 
wives, their children, and afterwards themselves, 
because they could not obtain Ibod. They had 
been grossly defrauded of their j>roperty ; and af- 
ter doing that, it was now sought to destroy their 
constitutional rights. He would repeat, they had 



WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION, IN 1838. 



8 

been groasly defrauded of their property." [Here 
is the true slaveholder, logic, chivalry and all.] 

Mr. Fratcr s.id, aa.ong other tinners, " He knew 
tliat it iir.rht be said the bill (Lord Glenelg's) did 
not go to the extent of freemg the i.egroes-<AaJ 
v>e are about to do ourselves, but he would ask 
whether we were not driven into the difficult!/ by 
which we are now surrounded! Had V7c not 
•been brou-ht hito this alarm>,g position, mto this 
L/ire«cv,bythe conduct of the British Govern- 
ment W/U do ice not tell the English nation 
frankly and candidly, that they agreed to give the 
planters six years' services of their apprentices as 
a part of the ionipensation, and ,j they desired to 
doaivay with it, that we must he paid for it, oth- 
erwise we Wdl NOT ANSWER FOR ANV CHANGE FOR 
.NY EVILS vvmcll ARE LIKELY TO ENSUE. Why 

did the gov. rumcnt force such an obnoxious bill 
upon us ? They hud in substance done this, they 
refused to annul the apprenlicship themse-lvcB, it 
is true, but said, we will place them in a situation 
that will compel them to do it themselves. He 
must spy that the Government had acted cowar^Z- 
ly and unjustly, they had in substance deprived 
dacm of the further two years' services of their 
apprentices, agreeably to the compact entered in- 
to upon a prctc.-;t tliat we had not kept faith with 
thenf, and now tell us they will give us no com- 
pensation. He hoped the allusion to it in the ad- 
dress would be retained." 

We ben- the patient attention of the reader to 
still more^of these extracts. The present state ol 
things in Jamaica renders them very important. 
It is indispensable to a correct judgment of the 
resufeofthe experiment to understand in what 
temper it was entered upon by the parties. >;oth- 
in- can show tins more clearly or authoritatively 
than the quotations we are making. We hnd 
another little torrent of eloquence from the same 
Mr. Hamilton Brown above quoted. He and 
Bcvcral otiier gentlemen rose to reply to the state- 
ments cf RicLrdHiU. a friend of freedom, and 
Secretary of the S.)ceiil Magistracy. 

Mr. Brown-" Mr.Chairman I am on my legs, 
Sir. I say that we have to thank the Special Jus- 
Uces, and the private instructions which they 
have acted upon, /or all the evils that have occur. 
red in the country. Had they taken the law for 
their (Tuide, had they acted upon that, bu-, and 
not upon their private instructions, every t.nng 
would have gone on splendidly, and we should 
have done well. But they had destroyed thene- 
eroes with their instructions, ihcyha.d given 1 1, em 
bad advice, and encouraged them in disobedience 
to their masters. I say it, Sir, in the face of this 
c-jmmiltee— I would say it on my death-bed to- 
morrow, that if the Stipendiary Magistrates had 
done their duty all would have gone on well, and 
I told his Excellency that he might then have 
slept on a bed of mses." 

Ilerc was one of the abolishcrs of the appren- 
ticeship wlio held that more flogging would have 
made it work more "spUndiaiy." Mr. Hugh 
Frasor Lcfilic, who the February before liad, m 
hifl pl.icc^ in the Assembly, denominated lh> anti- 
elavery d.kgafesassembied in London, as "a set 
of orawl'ng wretches ;" " the scum and refuse ot 
Bociitv." "'lie wasliingsand scrapings of thoma- 
nuracluniig districts," ^c. &-C. now delivered him- 
Btdf of the following : — 



"//e would ask any man in the Kovsl-, ..,^y, in 
the country, whether the house had any discretion 
left to theip in the steps they were about to takej 
Gould it be denied, that they were driven to the 
present alternative ? Could they any longer say 
thev were an independent legislature ? It would 
be preposterous-absolutely absurd to entcnam 
any such idea. The apprenticeship had becri 
forced upon the country as a part and parcel ot 
the planters' compensation-it had be.n working 
well, and would insensibly have slided into a state 
of absolute freedom, had the masters been left 
alone to themselves. It is now utterly vnpracti. 
cable to continue it. A most obnoxous measure 
had been passed by the British parhament, and 
sent out to this country to be promulgated by the. 
Governor as the law of the land. The functions 
of the legislature were put in abeyance, and a 
British act crammed down their throats. It could 
not be denied that they were now under a mili- 
tary Government. He was only sorry that the 
thing had not been more honestly done ; m his 
opinion, it would have been better for all classes, 
for then the government would have taken all the 
responsibilities which might attend the sudden 
change they had driven the house to make and 
find the means of conducting the atrairs of the 
country into a peaceable and successful state- 
Let any person look to the excitement lohich at 
present prevailed throughout the country, couple 
that with the speech which had been delivered by 
the Governor, ana say ^f it was any longer prac- 
ticable to carry on the system oj apprenticeship. 
With respect to the doctrine which had been 
broached, that the apprenticeship was not a part 
and parcel of the compact between the govern- 
ment and the planters ; that they (the planters) 
did not possess an absolute, but an mcidcntal right 
\o the services of their apprentices, he confessed 
he was at a loss to understand it, be was uica- 
pable of drawing so nice a distinction He re- 
peated, the government and nation had made the 
apprenticesliip a part of the consideration of the 
abolition of slavery, and having placed us m a 
situation to render its continuance impracticable, 
they were bound in honor and co.mnon honesty 
to coinpensaie us for the two years." 

Once more, and we have done. Mr. Berry 

^^'«*He did not think that because the Governor 
said they weie not entitled to compensation, that 
therefore they should give up the claim which 
they.unqucstionably had upon the British nation 
for further compensation. He would contend 
also, that the apprenticeship was one part ol the 
consideration for the abolition of slavery. He 
had heard it remarked that the apprenticeship 
must cease, but it ought to be added that they 
were compellcd-they were driven to put an end 
to it by the Government, though they were con- 
vinced that neither party was at this moment 
prepared for immediate abandonment Ihe Oo- 
Tor lor, m his o,.eni„g speech, had to d the hous« 
that from the igitation at home, and the corroh- 
ponding agitation wiiich at the present r|oment 
prevailed hero, it was physically impossible o 
carry on the apprenticeship with advantage to 
,„ist.-rs and labourers. He would take leave to 
remark, that the apprentices up ","-y^'"-^;'f/"2 
well-in some of the parishes had worked ex. 



^EST INDIA EMANCIPATION, IN 1838. 



treraelj well. Where this was not the case, it 
was attributable to the improper conduct of the 
Special Justices. He did not mean to reflect 
upon them all ; there were some honorable ex- 
ceptions, but he would say that a great deal of 
the ill-feeling which had arisen in the country be- 
tween the masters and their apprentices, was to 
be traced to the injudicious advice and conduct 
of the Special Justices. " 

Such wore the sentiments of by far the major- 
ity of those who spoke in the Assembly. Such, 
doubtless, were the sentiments of more than 
nine-tenths of the persons invested with the 
management of estates in Jamaica. What, then, 
if we had heard that nine-tenths of the emanci- 
pated had refused to be employed ? Could that 
have been counted a failure of the experiment ? 
Was there any reason to believe that the planters 
would not resort to every species of -oppression 
compatible with a system of wages ? 

Before proceeding to the question of wages, 
however, we invite the reader to scan the temper 
and disposition of the parties of the other part, 
viz., the laboring population. Let us observe 
more carefully how tliey behaved at the important 
period of 

TRANSITION, 

Two of the sturdiest advocates of slavery, the 
Jamaica Standard and the Cornwall Courier, 
speak as follows : — 

The Standard says — "On Tuesday evening, 
(July 31), the Wcsleyan, and we believe. Baptist 
Chapels, (St. James') were opened for service — 
the former being tastefully decorated with 
-branches of the palm, sago, and other trees, with 
a variety of appropriate devices, having a portrait 
of her Majesty in the centre, and a crown above. 
When we visited the Chapel, about 10 o'clock, it 
was completely full, but not crowded, the gene- 
rality of the audience well dressed ; and all evi- 
dently of the better class of the colored and 
negro population. S'lortiy after, we understand, 
a very excellent and modern sermon, in all poli- 
tical points, was delivered by the Rev. Mr. Kerr, 
the highly respected pastor. The congregation 
was dismissed shortly after 12 o'clock ; at which 
hour the church bell commenced its solemn peal, 
and a few noisy spirits welcomed in the morning 
of Freedom with loud cheers, and planted a huge 
branch, which they termed the " Tree of Liber- 
ty," in the centre of the two roads crossing the 
Market square." 

Again the Standard ohscrves, "The long, and 
somewhat anxiously expected jubilee of Eman- 
cipation has arrived, and now nearly passed over, 
with a remarkable degree of quiet and circum- 
spection. Of St. James's of course, we speak 
more particularly, — St. James's, hitherto the most 
reviled, and most unwarrantably calumniated 
parish, of all the parishes in this unfortunate and 
distracted colony !" 

The Co)mL'all Courier says, " The first of 
August, the most important day ever witnessed 
in Jamaica, has passed quietly as far as actual 
disturbance is concerned." 

The Jamaica Morning Journal, of whose re- 
cent course the planters should be the last to 
complain, gives more particular information of 
ths transition in all parts of the island. We give 



copious extracts, for to dwell upon such a scene 
must sotten the heart. It is good sometimes to 
behold the joy of mere brute freedom — the bound- 
ings of the noble horse freed from his stable and 
his halter — the glad homeward flight of tiie bird 
from its cage — but here was besides the rational 
joy of a heaven-born nature. Here were SQU.OOO 
souls set free ; and on wings of gratitude 
flying upwards to the throne of God. I'herr 
were the gatherings in the public squares, then- 
were the fire-works, the transparencies, the trees 
of liberty and the shouts of the jubilee, but the 
churches and the schools were the chief scenes, 
and hymns and prayer the chief language of this 
great ovation. There was no jriving up to 
drunken revelry, but a solemn recognition of 
God, even by those who had not been wont to 
worship him. His temples v/ere never so crowd- 
ed. His ministers never so much honored. We 
give the picture in all its parts, faithfully, and as 
completely as our information will enable us to 
do. 

August 2. 

" In this city, the day has passed ofi^inthe way 
in which such a day ought to pass off. With glad 
hearts and joyful lips, the people have crowded 
the temples of the living God, and poured out 
their praises and thanksgivings for the great 
benefits they had received at the hands of a bene- 
ficent Providence. That they will continue to 
deport themselves as dutiful subjects, and good 
men and women, we have no doubt. From the 
country we wait with anxious hopes to liear thai 
everything has gone off with the same peace, an«i 
quiet, and order, and regularity which have pre- 
vailed here, and especially that the people have 
returned to their labor, and are giving general 
satisfaction. 

From the same. 

Among the various waj's of interesting the 
minds of our newly enfranchised peasantry on 
the 1st of August, was that of planting a Palm 
tree emblematical of liberty, and commemorative 
of its commencement in this island. Both in 
Kingston and in Liguanea, we understand, this 
ceremony was performed by the schools and 
congregations of the " London Missionary Soci- 
ety." The following Hymn, composed by Mr. 
Wooldridge, for the purpose, and committed to 
memory by many of the children, who were treated 
with cakes and lemonade. 

Appropriate sermons were preached, both 
morning and evening, by the Rev. Messrs. Wool- 
dridge and Ingraham, and in the evening a Tem- 
perance Society was formed for the district of Li- 
guanea, when several signed the pledge. 

The thorny bush we'll clear away 
The emblem of old slavery — 
Let every fil)re of it die, 
And all its vices cease to be. 

Let indolence, deceit, and theft, 
Be of their nourishment bereft, 
Let cruel wrong now disappear, 
And dee;:nt order crown each year. 

Proceedings at Trelawnv. — A correspond, 
ent in Trelawny writes. The first of August was 
observed by the people so decently aad devoutly, 



10 



WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION, IN 1838. 



and with such manifestations of subdued, yet 
grateful icclinjr, tliat they appeared more like a 
Beject Class of Christians celebrating some holy 
liay of their church, than a race but recently 
converted from idolatry, and who were just 
emerging from the pollutions and degradation ot 
slavery. 

Trkat to the Children. — The most interest, 
ino-and truly exciting scene of all in Trelawny, 
was the spectacle of some hundreds of liappy chil- 
dren dining. This feast for them, and for all 
who had hearts that could sympathise witii the 
happiness of others, was provided by the Rev. 
Mr Knibb. Similar scenes were enacted in tlie 
rural districts. The Rev. Mr. Blyth had, I be- 
lieve, a mcetiig of his scholars, and a treat pro- 
videdfor them. The Rev. Mr. Anderson had a 
large assemblage of his scholars at the school- 
house, who were regaled with meat, bread, and 
beverage, and also a large meeting of the adult 
members of his Church, to every one of whom, 
who could, or was attempting to learn to read, 
he gave a book.— [HE GAVE A 1500K.] 

At St. Elizabeth. — At the hour of 10, A. M., 
there was about 3000 persons assembled at Gros- 
mond, when the clergyman, the Rev. Mr. Hylton, 
proposed an adjournment from the Chapel to the 
.shade of some vv^idc. spreading trees in the com- 
mon pasture, whither the happy multitude imme- 
diately adjourned. The morning service of the 
church having ended, the Rev. Gentleman preach- 
ed a most impressive sermon from the 4th chap- 
ter of Zech. Gth verse — " Not by might, nor by 
power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of 
Hosts " — In his application, he took a brief review 
of the history of the island — the conquest by the 
Spanish — the e.xtermination by the Indians — and 
tile consequent introduction of the negroes from 
Africa. Ho then adverted to the several insur- 
rections that had taken place during the period 
since the conquest by the British, to the last gen- 
eral rebellion in 1S3;2, in which both himself and 
many present were deeply interested. Having 
shown that all these insurrections had been sup- 
pressed, and had come to nought, he proceeded 
to point out how through Divine providence Mr. 
Wilbcrforce was raised up to advocate the cause 
of the oppressed African, and since that period, 
step by step, various privileges had been quietly 
conceded to the colored race, until the final con- 
summation by the Legislature, in abolishing the 
last vestiges of slavery on the 1st of August, 
1838. 

The Rev. Gentleman's honorable mention of 
Mr. Wilberforce appeared to be deeply felt and 
icknowledgcd by all around. After the service 
was concluded, the assembled multitude gave 
three hearty cheers for Queen Victoria, and three 
for Lord Mulgravc, the first free Governor that 
ever came to Jamaica. 

A more decent, orderly, and well-behaved as- 
semblage could not be seen in any part of the 
world. The people have indeed proved them- 
Bclvcs worthy of the ^^ great boon^^ conferred 
upon tiiem. 

At Port Maria. — TIk; first of August passed 
off happily and peaceably. The people felt 
deeply I lie great blessing that had been conferred 
on tliem, and behaved uneommonly " ell. All 
the places of worr^hip were crowded ; indeed, 



thrice the number would not have contained those 
who attended, and many of whom could not be 
accommodated. 

From the Cornwall Chronicle of Aug. 4. 

Nothing could give a fairer and fuller confi- 
dence in the character of the negroes than their 
conduct on so joyous and trying an occasion, as 
what they have exhibited during the brief period 
of their political regeneration. It may be con. 
sidered as an earnest of their future peaceable 
demeanor ; the disbelief of the sceptic will thus 
be put to the blusii, and the apprehensions of the 
♦imid allaj'ed. The first of August has passed, 
and with it the conduct of the people has been 
such as to convince the most jealous, as well a« 
t!ie most sanguine of the evil prognosticators, 
that they are a good and trust-worthy people. 
There is no doubt but that this day will be held 
for ever as a sacred anniversary — a new Pcnte. 
cost — upon which they will render thanks for the 
quiet "possession of their Canaan" — free from 
all political oppressions, and that they can sufier 
only from the acts of their own indiscretion. If 
ever they were placed in a favorable situation 
which they could improve, it could not have been 
equal to the present. — The exercise of modera- 
tion, however, is now most required, and will be 
greatly appreciated to themselves at a future 
time. 

Cumberland Pen., St. Catherine. — The 
conduct of the people in th's district generally, 
is such as to entitle them to the liighest commen- 
dation. Well knowing the inconvenience to 
which their masters' customers would be other- 
wise reduced from a want of food for their horses 
and cattle, they voluntarily went out to work on 
the second day, and in some instances on the fol- 
lowing, and supplied the usual demand of the 
market, presenting their labor thus voluntarily 
given as a free-will offering to their employers. 
Comment on such conduct would be superfluous. 
The late apprentices of Jamaica have hitherto 
acquired honors. 

Above all Greek, 
Above all Roman fame. 

■ So far as they arc concerned, the highest ex- 
pectations of their friends have been more than 
realized. Let the higher classes universally but 
exhibit the same dispositions and conduct, and 
the peace and prosperity of Jamaica are for ever 
secured. 

Morning Journal of August 4. 

saint THOMAS IN THE EAST. 

Up to the moment when the post left Morant 
Bay, tl'.e utmost tranquillity prevailed. In fact, 
from the quiet of tlie day and the circumstance 
of droves of well-dressed jiersons going to and 
from the Church and Chapels, I was occasionally 
deluded, says a correspondent, into the belief of 
the day being Sunday. The parish Church was 
crowded, and the Rector delivered a very able 
and ajjpropriafe address. The Methodist and In- 
dependent Chapels were also filled. At both 
places suitable sermons were preached. At the 
latter, the resident minister provided an ample 
second breakfast, which was faithfully discussed 
und(T the shade of a large tent purposely erected 
for the occasion. The Rev. Mr. Atkins, Wesley- 



WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION, IN 1838. 



11 



an Minister, nas proceeded from this place to lay 
the foundation stone of a chapel this afternoon, 
(1st Aujjust) at Port Morant, in which important 
service he will be assisted by Tlionias Thomson, 
Esq., Cliurchwarden, and Alexander Barclay, 
Esq., Member for the parish. It is expected tliat 
many thousand spectators will be present at tlie 
interesting ceremony. From all I have been able 
to learn the changes among the labourers on the 
estates in this quarter, will be very limited, tiicse 
people being apparently satisfied with the arrange- 
ment for their conti.ued domicile on the respect. 
ive properties. 

Another correspondent writes — " we are very 
quiet here. The day has arrived and nearly pass, 
ed off, and thank God the predictions of the 
alarmists are not fulfilled. Tlic Chapels were 
quite full with a great many persons in the yards. 
The Independents are just sitting down to a 
feast. The Rector delivered a sermon or ratlicr 
a string of advices and opinions to the labouring 
population, the most intolerant I have licard for 
a long time. This parish will, I am quite cer. 
t&in, enjoy in peace and quietness this happy ju- 
bilee. 

MANCHESTER. 

We learn from this parish tiiat the Churches 
and Chapels were crowded many hours before the 
usual time for beginnmg service. Several thou- 
sand persons remained outside the respective 
places, which were much too small to afford the 
accommodation. Every thing was quiet and or- 
derly when the post left. 

Says the Jamaica Gazette of Aug. 4th, a pa- 
per of ilie Old School — " In spite of all the en- 
deavours of a clique uf self-interested agitators, 
clerical humbug and radical rabble, to excite 
the bad passions of the sable populace against 
those vvholiave been the true friends of Colonial 
freedom, and the conservators of the public 
peace andprosperity of the country, the bonfire, 
buU-roa t, and malignant eftigy exhibited to 
rouse thf; rancor of tlie savage, failed to pro- 
duce the eff-ct anticipated by the projir-ctois of 
the Saturnalia, and the negro multitude fully 
salistied with the boon so generously conceded 
by the Island Legislaluie, were in no humor to 
wreak their wra h on individual benefactors, 
whom the envy of party spirit had marked out 
as the victims of truth and independence. 

We are happy to give our meed of praise lo 
the decent and orderly conduct of the sable 
multitude, and to record that it far excelled the 
Loco Foco group of bullies, and blasters in 
decency and propriety of demeanor. A kind of 
spree or scuffle took place between donkey-driv- 
er Gluallo and aniith^-T. We don't know if they 
came to close fisti-cuff-, but it was, we are as- 
sured, the most serious affray on the Course." 

The following is the testimony borne in re- 
gard to Barbados. 

From the Barbados Liberal, Aug. 'ith. 
- First or August. 

" It gives us great pleasure to state that, so far 
as our information from the country extends, 
this day was observed in a manner highly cre- 
ditable to our brethren. We never ourselves 
anticipated any riotings or disorder on th" part 
of the emancipated. A little exhilaration be- 
getting a shout or two, would not have surpris- 



ed us ; but evt n this, we are happy to say, 
made no pin uf their manifestation of joy. 
The day was spent in quiet piety ! In heartfelt, 
soul overflowing giaiiiude to their ncavenly 
Fattier, whose divina agency had raised up 
friends in their necessity, and brought tneir 
great tribulation to an end, they crowded ai an 
early hour to the several churches and chapels, 
in which their numtiers could scaicely fmd 
turning room, and then quii lly and d voutly 
poured forth their souls in prayer and praise 
and thanksgiving! Mo revellings, no i iotings, 
no drunkenness, deseciatcd this day. Wc have 
heard from five parish^-s, and in none of the 
five have we heaid of a ^i^gle convivial met- 
ing. Fro n cliuichand chapel they went to their 
homes, and eat their firsi free dinner with their 
families, putting to shdme the intolerant preju- 
dices which h id prepared powder and balls, 
and held the Riot Act ru readiness to correct 
their insubordinate notions of liberty !" 
From the New Haven, Ct., Herald. 

'• Barbados, Au^^. 2, 1838 
Yesterday's sun ro.se upon eight hundred 
thousand freemen, on whom and their ancestor.s 
the badge of slavery had rested for two hundred 
years. It was a solemn, d lightlul, most memo- 
rable day. I look upon it as a matter of exceed- 
ing thankfulness, that I have been permitted tn 
be a witness to it, and to be able to speak from 
experience and from observation, of the happiness 
to which that day has given birtli. The day had 
previously been set apart by proclamation of tliu 
Governor, "as a day of devout thanksgiving and 
praise to Almighty God forthe happy termination 
of slavery." The thanksgiving and praise were 
most truly sincere, heartfelt and general. It was 
an emancipation not merely of the slave but ci" 
the proprietor. It was felt as such ; openly ac- 
knowledged and rejoiced in as such. Never have 
I witnessed more apparently unfeigned expres- 
sions of satisfaction than were made on that day 
by the former owners of slaves, at the load of 
which they had been relieved. 

I do not wish to be understood as asserting that 
previous to the working of emancipation, tlio 
slave proprietors wished the abolition of slavery. 
Far from it. But having, though unwillingly, 
been made witnesses of the operations of freedom; 
and having themselves tasted of the previously 
unknown satisfaction of employing voluntary 
and contented, because /ree laborers ; their mindr. 
became enlightened, softened, changed : and 
from being the determined opposers, they became 
themselves the fl7//Aorsof complete emancipation. 
I know not in what terms to describe to you tlie 
emotions excited by passing through the streets 
of this populous town on that memorable morn- 
ing. There was a stillness and solemnity that 
might be felt. It was caused by no display of 
force, for none was to be seen. Here and there 
a policeman going his usual rounds, but not a 
soldier, nor the slightest warlike jn-eparation of 
any kind to strike the eye, or overawe the spirit 
of disorder. 

The spirit that seemed to fill the entire popula- 
tion was eminently the spirit of peace, good will, 
thankfulness and joy too deep, too solemn, to 
allow of any loud or noisy demonstration of it. 
Of course, all stores, shops and olfices of every 



WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION, IN 1838. 



kind w^crc closed. So also were all places of 
amusement. No sound of revelry, no evidences 
of nightly excess were to bo heard or seen. I do 
not sa,y too much when I assert that the reign of 
order, peace, and sobriety, w'as complete. 

To give eclat to an event of such importance, 
the Governor had ordered one company of militia 
to attend with liim at the cathedral. It is an im- 
nien.-e building, and was crovvded in every part of 
its spacious area, galleries and aisles, with a most 
attentive assemblage of people, of all colors and 
conditions. Several clergymen olSciated, and 
one of them at the opening of the services read 
most appropriately the 58th chapter of Isaiah. 
Imagine for a moment the efTcet in such an au- 
diejice, on such an occasion, where were many 
hundreds of emancipated slaves, of words like 
these : — " Is not this the fast that I have chosen, 
to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the 
licavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, 
and tjiat ye break every yoke ?" The sermon 
by the Ei:ihop was, as might have been expected 
on such an occasion, interesting and impressive. 
He spoke with great effect of the unexpected pro- 
gress of freedom, from island to island, from 
colony to coluny, until, with a solitary exception, 
upon tiiat day the stain of slavery was obliterated 
forever from every Britisii possession. The pro- 
gress of education, the gradual reformation of 
morals, and the increasing thirst for religious in 
straotion, were all dwelt upon with great torce, 
and the glory of all ascribed, as was most fit, to 
the Great Giver of every good and perfect gift. 
It Avas an occasion rich vvitii happy emotions, and 
long to be remembered as a bright and beautiful 
spot in the pathway of our earthly pilgrimage. 

The close of the day was not less auspicious 
tj'.2;i its coinmcnccmcnt. In company with Mrs. 
H., I drove through .several of the principal 
streets, and thence through the most public tho- 
roughfare into the country ; and no where could 
aught be seen to mar the decent and truly impres- 
sive solemnity of the day. There were no 
dances, no merry-making of any sort ; not a soli- 
tary drunkard, not a gun fired, nor even was a 
shout heard to welcome in the new-born liberty. 
The only groups we saw were going to or return- 
ing from the ditFi rent chapels and ehurche-s : ex- 
cept in a few instances, where families might be 
seen reading or singing hymns at their own 
dwellings. 

And now, sir, having arrived at the long looked 
for consummation of all the labors and ])rayers of 
the friends of tiie f-lave for so many years, as I 
cast my eye around this l(i7ul of liberty, how many 
thoughts crowd my mind ? I ask mj'self — is it 
indeed finished ? And are liiere none to lament 
*.hc downfall of time-honored, hoary-headed 
slavery ? Where are the mourners ? Where arc 
the prognosticators of ruin, desolation, and woe ? 
Where are tlie riots and disorders, the bloodshed 
and tJie burnings? The pro])hets and their pro- 
pin cies are alike empty, vain, and unfounded, 
and are alike buried in oblivion. 

And vviiy, in the name of humanity, was not 
this glorious consummation brought about ages 
ago ? — Is it bcc^ausc the sl.ives of 1838 are belter 
fitted for freedom than theisc of fifty or a hinidreil 
years since .' No one believes it. The only 
preparation for freedom required in this isl.i.'id, or 



any where else, in order to put a peaceful end to 
slavery, is the preparation of heart in the slave- 
holder to grant deliverance to tire captive. 
Yours truly, 

WM. R. HAYES 

P. S. August 9th.— All is quiet, and the utmost 
good order every where prevails." 
t 

To complete the picture we will give two ex- 
tracts of letters from eminent Jamaica Attornies 
to their employers in England, with regard to the 
turning out to work. It is remarked by the Eng- 
lish papers that the Attornies generally in writing 
to their employers adopt tlie same strain. They 
are all doing well on their estates, but hear 4hat 
the rest of the island is in a woful condition. — 
These are the men who are the greatest, if not 
the only, losers by emancipation; hence their tes. 
timony is doubly valuable. 

From the British Emancipator, Nov. 14. 

LETTERS FROM ATTORMES. 

Extract of a Letter from an eminent Estate 

Attorney, in St. Mary's, Jamaica, dated August 

24, 1838. 
" There was nothing whatever done in this parish, 
or throughout the island, for the first two weeks 
of tlie month. In this quarter some estates did a 
little last week, and have been making more pro- 
gress since, but the far greater number have not 
yet done any work; the minds of the people are 
very unsettled, and full of all soils of foolish no- 
tions, which will continue more or less till wc 
hear of the home government having accepted 
and approved of our abolition bill, and tlieir views 
with regard to us. 

On st'vcral of the estates which have wrought, 
the people have struck once or twice- We have 
in this parish ministers of every denomination, 
and they are all acting very properly ; but they do 
not seem to have as much influence as expected; 
we must be as considerate and liberal as possible 
to secure their confidence ourselves. We are in 
St. Mary's paying the highest rate of wages in 
the island ; Is. 8d. currency per day nett, with 
allowances, are generally offered ; I am giving 
here, from sheer necessity, ils. Gd. currency per 
day, without charging any rent in the mean 
time. Ill the present slate of things, when so few 
estates are doing anything at all, I have much 
satisfaction in saying tiiat the people here, on 

, a good proportion of tliem ■vA-ere at 

work last week, and I liave now tiie mi!l about 
making sugar, with every probability, I Ihink, of 
going on satisfactorily ; and looking dispa.fsion- 
ately at the great change which has so suddenly 
tak< n place, our present difficulties arc not much 
to be v/ondered at. 

Sunday night, 8th Sept. — The foregoing was 
written, but too late, for tiie last packet ; but as 
another sails to-morrow, I write j-ou a few lines 
more. There is, uj) to iliis moment, but little 
material alteration in the state of affairs general, 
ly, certainly none for the worse. I have inada 
here twenty hogsheads of sugar .«:iiice the Istuilt. 
"Wc are altogether in an uncertain state, but there 
arc more mills about, and more work doing in 
this district than in any other in the island, which 
miglit ai'.d ought to be a feather in tlie cap of 
Maittcr, our late stipe. I have no time to say 



WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION, IN 1838. 



13 



more now, excepting that, although I am in great 
hopes that things will soon generally unprovc, 
and am of opinion that our proscut difiiculties aro 
not to be wondered at, yet our situ-ation is st.ll so 
critical, that I dare not venture to liazard an opin- 
ion as to the success of the great cxperiinen',. 
I repeat, however, again, that we have not st en 
anything to disappoint or surprise us, bad as many 
things arc." 

Extract of a Letter from an Attorney in St. 
Mary^s, Jamaica, 2Uh August, 1^38. 

" The services of the stipes are much wanting 
here ; 1 am paying 10s. a week for first class, 
6s. 8d. for second, and 4s. 2d. for third, for five 
days work ; they say thdy will not work on Fri- 
days. However, I have got the people at 

to work to-day ; they are bcliaving better than 
most others. I hope things will now improve ; 
and it is my opinion that good estates will do, 
and others will fall to the ground. Old Mr. Tytte 
is dead, and his son Alexander made stipe for 
this district. The Governor's speech respecting 
women has done a great deal of harm. None of 
the women want to work. If Lord Glenelg had 
made such a mistake, he would have heard 
enough of it. I wish the Government would 
take it on themselves to settle the rate of wages, 
otherwise two-thirds of the estates will be thrown 
up before next year ; of course I can stand this 

as well as any. The people have behaved 

well : they did every thing I told them ; they 
are working on piece-work, which is the best 
plan." 

Precisely similar is the testimony of private 
correspondents and of the public press so far as 
we have been able to learn, in all the other colo- 
nies where emancipation has taken place. There 
is certainly nothing in all th s that indicates a 
disposition on the part of the emancipated to throw 
off the employment of their former masters, but 
much the reverse. We may safely challenge 
contradiction to the asserlion, that at the expira- 
tion of the jubilee there were not a s^t of free 
laborers on earth from whom the West India 
planters could have got more work for the same 
money. It may be proper in these days, when 
the maxims of slavery have so fearfully over- 
shadowed the rights of man, to say that a man 
has a right to forbear laboring when he can live 
honestly without it — or, at all events, he has a 
right to choose whether he will employ himself 
or be employed by another. Hence it may turn 
out that the refusal to labor, so far as there has 
been any, onlj' serves to prove the more clearly 
the fitness of t'le laborers of freedom. 

WAGES. 
It must have been obvious to every man of 
reflection that in a change so vast, involving so 
many laborers, and in circumstances so variou", 
there would arise almo.st infinite disputes about 
the rate of wages. The colonies differ widely as 
to the real value of labor. Some have a rich, 
unexhausted, and, perhaps, inexhaustible soil, and 
^ scanty supply of laborers. Oihers are more 
populous and less fertile. The former would of 
course offer higher wages than the latter, for so 
sudden was the step there could be no common 
understanding on the point. Again, as we have 



seen, the planters came into the measure wiih 
different views. Some anticipated the gonei-d 
change, and eitlicr from motives of humanity or 
policy, or more probably of both, ai.opied a course 
calculated to gain the gratitude and good will of 
the laborer. — These would offer wages which the 
less liberal would call ruinous. Many, and it 
would seem the great body of them in Jamaica, 
yielded unwillingly to sujierior jiowcr. Thoy saw 
the sceptre of despotic authority was to be wrested 
from their grasp. They threw it down, as one 
may easily believe, resolved to seize the best sub- 
stitute they could. Tliey would infallibly fall 
upon the plan of getting the greatest possible 
amount of wo'-k for the least possible amount of 
pay. When we consider that even in the oldest, 
most civilized, and most Christianized free-labor 
communities, employers are wont to combine to 
keep down the rate of wages, while on the other 
hand the laborers throw up work to raise it, we 
shall not be surprised that there should be things 
of this sort in Jamaica, liberty being in the gristle. 
The only help for such an evU is, that there in 
always a rate of wages wiiich is advantageous to 
both parties, and things being left to themselvcR, 
it will at last be found. 

To the planters and frced-men in settling tho 
question what wages they should offer and receive, 
two standards or guides presented themselves, — 
1. The rate of wages v.hich had been given in An- 
tigua since 1834. 2. The compensation that had 
been demanded by the Jamaica planters them- 
selves, and adjudged by Ihe magistrates, in case 
of apprentices buying their own time. Hundreds 
of planters had declared upon oath what the time 
ox the apprentice was worth to them. Pos.sibly 
as sellers, in the elasticity of their consciences, 
they may have set a higher price than they would 
be willing to give as buyers. In strict honesty, 
however, it is difiicult to see why labor should not 
be worth to them as much in the one case as the 
other. The rate of wages fixed upon in -\ntigua 
may be seen by a reference to the Journal of 
Thome and Kimball to be very inadequate to the 
wants of the laborer. Free labor is there screwed 
down to the lowest possible point. The wonder 
is that the laborers should have submitted to such 
a scale for a moment. But they had no prece- 
dent to guide them, no advisers free from the 
yoke of the proprietary, no valr.ations given by 
their own masters, and there was every facility 
for successful combination on the part of tho 
masters. They must work 'for such wages as the 
masters pleased to offer, or starve. 

Say Messrs. Thome and Kimball — " By a grne. 
ral understanding among the planters, tiic rate is 
at present fixed at a shilling per day, or a littlo 
more than fifty cents per week, counting fivu 
working days." This Antigua scale, and not tlio 
one they themselves had sold labor by during ihe 
apprenticeship, became at once the favorite with 
a great part of tlie Jamaica and Barbados plant, 
ers. If they in any cases offered higher w-agcs, 
they made it up by charging higher rent for tho 
hou-cs and grounds, which the negroes had built 
and brought under culture on their properties. It 
was before the first of August that this proced- 
ure was resolved upon by tin; planters, as we 
gather from numerous communications in tht 
papers recommending a variety of modes of get 



14 



WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION, IN 1838. 



ting labor for less than its natural market value. 
We Bclect a single one of these as a specimen, by 
the application to vvhicli of a little arithmetic, it 
will bo perceived tliat the employer would briiig 
the laborer in debt to him at the end of the year, 
though jiot a moment should be lost by sicknes;) 
or other casualt3\ The humanity of the docu- 
ment is perfectly of a piece with that of tlic 
i<ystem which would civilize mankind by making 
merchandize of them. 

To the Editor of the Morii'mg Journal. 
Sir, — Let meetings be held, not only in every 
parish, but in every district of a parish, and let 
all land-owners, &e., agree not to rent land under 
.£8 * per acre, and not to sell it for less than double 
that sum. Should a few be found regardless of 
the general weal, let the proprietary, &e. join and 
purchase sucii lands, and if otherwise, it is pre- 
sumed the dissentients to the measure woultl be 
80 small as not to affect in any material degree 
the general interest, inasmuch as those who dis- 
sented, from the consequent scarcity of land 
arising from the measure, would demand a high 
rental for their land. '1 he maximum sj'stcm ap- 
pears to be preferable to the minimum. I have 
therefore made choice of it as a stimulus to tiie 
laborers to work at least four days or thirty-six 
hours in the week to pay for their rent, &,c. &c., 
ur fay 2s. Id. for every day^s absence; or, if 
nick, pay up the labor by working on the Friday, 
<Stc., and Saturday, if needful. Weekly settle- 
ments with botJi parties, or immediate summary 
ejectment, if deemed necessary. 

£ s. d. 
Rent of 2 acres of land as a ground for 

each able adult, at £b per acre - 10 
Do. of house and garden, from X'4 to 

X"10 per annum, say - - -600 
Medical attendance, medicine, <J-c. tj-c, 

worth £4 per annum . - 4 

Clothing and Christmas allowance per 

annum - - - 1 13 4 

21 13 4 

Four days' or 36 liours' labor in each 
week, at 2s. Id. per day, or 208 
days, at 2s. Id. . . ' . - 21 13 4 

If task-work were adopted, or tlie day's 
labor prolonged to lOj or 12 hours' 
labor, 3 days' or Sj days' labor 
would suffice, consequently, the 
laborer would have 2 or 3 days 
in each week to work for extra 
wages. 

In addition to the above, say pasturage 
for a horse, at 4s. 2d. per week per 
annum - - - - 10 16 8 

Pasturage for an ass, at 2s. Id. per week 

per annum - - - 5 6 4 

Run of past u rage and fruit, for a sow, 
burrow, or sholt ; if kung in tiiis 
NOSH, 10^/. per week, if not kunc;, 
1«. 8rZ. per week; per annum, at 
lUd. per week - - . -234 

• The sums are in the currency of tlic islands 
when not otherwise specified, that iti 7s (id to the 
dollar. 



The above charges for pasturage might be paid 
for either by additional labor, or in money, and 
to a good head-man they might be granted as a 
gratuit}-, and perhaps an additional acre of land 
allowed him to cultivate. It would be desjrable 
that the negroes should, when quite free, work 
11 hours per day in the short days, and 12 hours 
in the longer ones. I believe the siiortest day's 
labor in England in the winter months is 10 
hours' actual labor, and 12 hours' in the summer, 
for which 2 hours they arc paid extra wages. 

St. Mary's, 8th June, 1838. S. R. 

The date should not escape notice. By this 
plan, for a few petty indulgences, all of which 
were professedly granted in the time of slavery 
itself, the master could get the entire labor of the 
negro, and seven or eight pounds per anitum be. 
sides! Some maybe disposed to regard this as a 
mere joke, but we can assure them it was a serious 
proposal, and not more monstrous than many 
things that the planters are now" attempting to put 
in practice. The idea of actually paying money 
wages was horrifying and intolerable to many of 
the planters; they seem to have exercised their 
utmost ingenuity to provide against so dreadful a 
result. One who signed himself an " Old Planter" 
in the Despatch, before the abolition of the ap- 
prenticeship, in view of the emancipation of tire 
non-prcedials which was to take place on the first 
of August, gravely wrote as follows : — 

" It is my intention, therefore, when the period 
arrives for any arrangement with them, to offer 
them in return for such services, the same ti7ne as 
the prwdials noiv have, with of course the same 
allowances generally, putting out of the question, 
however, any relaxation from labor during the 
day, usually allowed field laborers, and understood 
as shell-blow — house people being considered at, 
all times capable of enjoying that indulgence at 
their pleasure, besides the impossibility of their 
master submitting to such an inconvenience. — 
This appears to me to be the only mode of ar- 
rangement that would be feasible, unless we resort 
to money wages, and I should regret to find that 
sucli a precedent was estahlished in this instance, 
for it would only be a forerunner to similar de- 
mands at the coming period, wlien the pnedials 
became free." 

There were more reasons than one why "money 
wages" were I'earc.l by the Jamaica plantcri^ 
A great many estates are managed by attorneys 
for absentee proprietors These gentlemen pocket 
certain commissions, for which reason tliey keep 
in cultivation estates which cannot possibly yield 
a profit under a systi m of paid labor, 'i hey 
deem it for their interest to retain their occupation 
even at the expense of their employers. Not a 
few conceive it for IhiMr interest to depreciate the 
value of ])ropeity that lliey may purchase low, 
Ircnce they deem it good policy to refuse wages, 
let the croi)s perish, and get U|) a panic. The 
documents we shall furnisii will be clear on these 
points. The great diversity of practice in the 
planters in regard to wages, as well as the rea- 
sonable dis|)osilion ol" tin; laborers, is sliown by 
the following paragraphs culled from the Moii.ing 
Journal of August 10 : — 

" St. Davids. — A pentlcimn in the n.Knage- 
ment of a property in this parish, writes in tlte 



WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION, IN 1838. 



16 



tollowing strain to his employer — " I have an arc paid upon many other properties. On 

accession of strength this morning. The people many estate!? the jjcople liave refused to labor, 

are civil and industrious. I have received let- and urge objections against the managers, as a 

ters assuring me that the example of the Co- reason for so aclhig. Tiicy remain ''and will 

coa Walt estate people, has been the means engage to labor, provided the obnoxious parties 

of inducing those on other estates to enter are removed." 

into the terms proposed — that is 5s. per week, How could the people be blamed for refusing 

with houses, grounds, medicines, &c. &c." lOd. per day, wliile on "many properties" they 

"SlThomas IN THE East.— The apprentices were getting from 2s. 6d. to3s. 4d.'! Sucli 

on Golden Grove Estate, turned out to work being also the valuation which the masters had 

on Monday, but we have not learnt on what uniformly placed upon their time during the ap- 

terms. At Mount Vernon, the property of prenticeship 1 



Kenneth M'Pherson Esq., they turned out on 
Tuesday morning to work for live days in the 
week, at lOd. per day with houses, grounds, 
&c." 

" Trelawnt — A correspondent writes, every- 
thing is quiet, and the people would go to work 
if any bargains were made, but I believe 
throughout the parish the people were directed 
to go to work on Monday morning, without 
any previous arrangement, or bemg even told 
flow much they would be paid, or asked what 
they expected. On one estate Is. 8d. with 
houses and grounds was offered and refused. 
Some of the masters are determined, it is said, 
to hold out, and will not consent to give more 
than Is. 3d. or Is. Sd.per day." 

"St. Johns. — The people in this parish are 
at v/ork on most of the estates without any 
agreement. They refuse the offer of Is. l-2d. 
per day, but continue to labor, relying on the 
honor and liberality ofthe planters for fair and 
reasonable pay. If they do not get these in 
two weeks, our correspondent writes, there 
will be a dead stop. The laborers fix the 
quantity or work to be done in a day, agreea- 
ble to the scale of labor approved of by the 
Governor during the apprenticeship. For any 
thing beyond that, they demand extra pay, as 
was usual under that system." 

" St. Thomas in the Vale. — No work, we 
understand, is being done iu this parish as yet. 
A correspondent states that some ofthe over- 
seers and attorneys wish the people to turn out 
to work without entering into any arrange- 



When the planters found that the free la- 
borers could neither be prevailed upon to iabor 
for half-price nor be driven to excesses by such 
paltry persecution, they turned tlieir wrath, as 
had been long their custom, upon the Baptist 
Missionaries. Upon Mr. Knibb especially they 
laid the blame of giving mischievous advice to 
the peasantry. And for the obvious purpose of 
exciting tlie thousands of people warmly de- 
voted to him, to acts of violence, they attempt- 
ed to burn him in efHgy and actually circulated 
the report that he had been murdered. Thous- 
ands of his people flocked into Spanish Town, 
threatening to destroy the town if the report 
proved true. But on learning its falsity were 
easily persuaded to retire, and did so without be- 
ing guilty of any excess whatever. Unmeas- 
ured and unceasing hive been the attacks of 
the Jamaica press upon the missionaries. Upon 
their shoulders has been laid " the ruin of that 
fine island." — They have corrupted the peas- 
antry and put it in their heads to ask more 
wages than the estate can possibly give. To 
determine the value of the testimony of the 
missionaries in this case it is important to know 
the nature of their influence upon the laborers 
touchmg the question of wages. We are hap- 
pily furnished with the required information 
from thoir own hps and pens in the Jamaica 
papers. 

From the Falmouth Post. 

KEV. W. KNIBB's advice TO THE NEGROES. 
MEETING AT THE " SUFFIELD SCHOOL-ROOM." 

On Friday evening last we attended the suf- 



menis, which they refuse to do. The attorney field School-mom, in this town, which, at an 
for Rose Hall, Knollis, New Works, and Wal- early hour was crowded with apprentices and 
lace Estates has offered Is. 3d. per day, out of head people, from upwards of twenty proper- 



which £ij per annum is to be deducted for 
houses and grounds. The offer has been re- 
fused. The overseer of Byndloss estate re- 
quired his people to work witliout agreeing as 
to the rate of wages they were to receive, but 



ties, who had met for the ])urpo<^e of receiving 
advice from the Rev. Wm. Knibb, and Special 
Justice Lyon, respecting the course of conduct 
it will be necessary for them to adopt, on tak- 
ing their stand in society as freemen. Several 



theyrehised to do any thing without a proper gentlemen connected witli the commercial and 

agreement." agricultural interests of the parish were present 

" St. Mary's— On some estates in this parish ^^ *^® occasion, 
we are informed, and particularly those under The Rev. W. Knieb commenced by saying, 

the charge of Richard Lewis, Esq, such as that he attended a meeting of a similar nature 

Ballard's^Valley, Timperon's estates, Ellis' es- at Wilberforce Chapel, on the preceding cve- 

tates, &c. and of Charles Stewart, Esq. Trinity, ning. He had thought it hotter to request the 

Royal, Iloslin Bremer Hall, &c., and also ot attendance this evening ofthe head peofjle, who 

James Geddes, Esq., the laborers are getting being the more intelligent would be able to ex- 

from23. 6d, to 3s. 4d. per day. The same rates plain to others, the advice which they would 



16 



WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION, IN 1838. 



r 1..1 " «;nia necessity of life. Your wages mubl be such as 



now receive themselves. 



^es:;;t^-^ongwhomIucJ.ceaiev^« ^^-^^^Z^^o^To^^^^ff^ -^ ^" 
who are not connected with my church .1 am ^^'X J^^^^^^^-^^ ^^ ^i,i,„^ess and old age. I 
attei 



„..„ onnected with my church : 1 am "«^^^^:^' ;';,(• fo, .i^kness and old age. I 

glad of the attendance of these gentlemen, for P^ b> ^°^™^,j- ,^^ ^,, August with feelmgs 

LatIdo,Idoopenly,andunyj.e.a hber^^^^ of ly and graUtade. Oh. it wdl be a blessed 

to express his opimou at this meetmg it he de oi joy M ^^ ^^ ^H ; and my 



<pre 
sires to do so, 



opimoa at this meeun, if he do- o^oy -u ,. ...^.^. j^^^ ^^^^^^^^ ^^^ ^ 

^.esiou..^- ^ r- A u^ rplpa^pd friend^. I hope that the hberty winch it wii^ 
You will shortly, my ^f^ds, be released ^-^J, P.^ be duly appreciated. I trust 
from your F^sent state oboiidag^^^^^^^ & £1 to see the blk man m the full en- 
course of a very lew weeks you ^^ ^1/^^^^^;"; Wmont of every privile<Te vyith his white breth- 
boon of freedom, and I would ^^^^^^f^^^^^^lll' fe a d tha Y^^ ^^^Y ^'^ ^« ^^"'^"^'^ ^''^'''^''^ 
deeply on your ^'^'^dsthe necessity of your con ^^ ^'^J^j^^ J j-^ ^-J^^, to those who have af 
tmuinj^ the cultivation of the sod on the receip as to j,ne ^^^^^ ^^ 
of fa.r and equitable wages. I am not ^wa c firmed ba^^^Jie ^^^) ^> .^ .^^^ 
myself of any complete scale of u ages havm tnai J ^^ ^V^en liberty cast 
been drawn up, but Ihave been o 10 o 12 ^ts and lucent o P ^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^^jf,! ,,l,„d 



its ana iiceauuus jjui^uilo. .- -•-—-. . ■< ■. i 

ditlerent properties,^ h^^^' coursed with ^^ t^J:^S^:^:::^^^^^ 

eral proprietors, and I am g^^f to say hat w ^ L ^etv^r to Hv^ on^erms of friendship and 

some' of them there appears to be a di^po^t^on onde^v our \ ^^^ ^^^^^.^^^when the labour- 

to meet the cliarge fairly f "f J"'™J; f^ receives a proper reni^meration for his .er- 

Those who are more conversan with fipir^ ^/es-when^le employer contemplates the 

than I am, wdl be enabled ^^ .^^^^^y,.™ ^^^^ [uxudance of his well-cultivated fields, may 

owner can afibrdto^r.cfo^^^^^^ SefSi return thanks to a merciM God, for 

his property. 1'^^^^*^ "'^7^^!°''',' Jl"" . ^ke nermittin- the sun of liberty to shme with 

you, do not '\'--^'^,^''y l'''''^^ fJ^%^-''\nroi LX effulgence ! I need scarcely assure you, 

lime and consider the subject for it is one o^ ^ ,„d,, that I will be at all times ready to 

vital interest and importance toaU. lt>ou "^y™-;^ I care not about the abuse 

wantrrf/ourselves and families. In makmg who have been accustomed to place the mos^ 

^.tr .vrlno^emcnts if there be an attempt to unfavourable constructions on my actions, lam 

Si d you K re'sbt'the attompt by all ?egal wdling to meet the Fopnetors m a spu-.t o 

^rum 3'^" ' . consider that you are not candour and conciliation. 1 desire to see jou 

"'T'llXsoU^^^^^^ I f^^i'-ly compensated for your labor ; I desire 

3S osreTey^^^^^^ also'to see' yon performing your work with 

Iv rooted oit. You must work for money ; you cheerful industry :, but I would warn you rwt to 

must uav money to your employers for all you be too hasty in entering into contracts, ihmk 

ieceiv- at their hands : a fair scale of wages seriously before you act, and remember, as I 

must be established, and you must be entirely have already told you, that you have now to 

indeaendent of any one. If you continue to re- act not only for yourselves, but tor posterit} . 
cS tSo allowlnces which iiave been given We give numerous documents from these 

during slavery and apprenticeship, it will go gentlemen, as amon^ the best if not the g. eat- 

abroailthatyouarenot able to take care of est part our fellow citizens ; we trust their te^s- 

yourselves; that your employers are obhged to timony will be deemed the best that could bo 

provide you with these allowances to keep you offered, 
from starvation ; in such a case you will be 



nothing more than s'.aves.— To be tree, you 
muist 1)6 independent ; you must receive money 
for voLU- work ; come to market with money ; 
purchase from whom you pleas(>, and be ac- 
countable to no one but that Being above, who 
I hope will watch over and protect you !— T 
sincerely trust that proper arrangements will 
he made before the 1st of August.— I have 
spoken to nearly four thousand persons con 



LETTER OF EIOHT BArTIST MISSIONARIES. 

To the Right Hon. Lord Glenelg, &c. 
. jviy Lord— We feel assured that no apology 
is necessary, in requesting your attention to the 
subject of this letter. The official connection 
which you hold with the colony, together with 
the peculiar circumstanoes in which its newly- 
sooken to nearly tour uiousano persou« .un- emancipate,! i.npulation are placed, render it 
nectS with my ^church, and I have not yet an imperative duty we owe to ourselves to lay 
learnt that there is any disposition among tlioin before yon nm sen unents 
trh^avethor present ompoyers, provided thev Having labored m the island for many years, 
^S^'^^'^^Wourem^oyor will and liaving been in daily intercourse with the 
expect from you -rood" crops of su^ar and rum ; objects of our solicitude, we do co\ devoutly 
Slid whloU. labour to 'give him these, he thankful to ALMinnry Gon, tint he has spared 
ni.t pay viu such wa^es as will enable you to us to see the d.senthralment of our beloved 
J ovde yourselves with wholesome food, good flocks; while it gives us mrreased pleasu e to 
dothing comfortable houses, and every other assure your lordship that they received the boon 



WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION, IN 1838. 



17 



with holy joy, and that the hour which made 
them men beheld them in thousands humbly 
prostrate at the footstool of mercy, implorin<r 
the blessing of Heaven upon themselves and 
tlieir country, whJe, during the night and joy- 
ful day, not a single case of intoxication was 
Been. 

To u?, as their pastors, they naturally looked 
for advice, both as to the labor they should per- 
form and the wages they should receive. The 
importance of this subject was deeply felt by 
us, and we were prepared to meet it with a 
full sense of the responsibility it involved, and 
happily succeeded in inducing them to accept 
of a sum lower than that winch the representa- 
tives of the landowners had formerly asserted 
was fair and just. 

We regret to state, tliat a deep combination 
was formed by many of these middlemen to 
grind the peasantry to the dust, and to induce, 
if possible, the acceptance of remuneration 
which, by afT^rding no inducement to the pea- 
sant cheerfully to labor, would have entailed 
pauperism on him and his family, and ruin on 
the absentee proprietor. It was to this cir- 
cumstance, and not in the least to any unwilhng- 
ness in the free negro to work, or to demand 
more for his labor than it was fairly worth, that 
for one or two weeks, in some places, the cul- 
tivation of the soil was not resumed. Upon 
the planting attorneys, so long accustomed to 
tyranny and°oppression, and armed with a pow- 
er over the land which must prove inimical to 
the full development of the resources of this 
valuable colony, the blame entirely rests. 

We suppose that your lordship is fully aware, 
that the laws under which the laborer is now 
pdaced are tyrannical and unjust in the extreme ; 
laws, we hesitate not to afBrm, which are a 
lisD-race to those who framed them, and which, 
if acted upon by a local magistracy, will entail 
upon the oft-cheated, over-patient negro some 
of the worst features of that degradmg state of 
vassala"-e from which he has just escaped. 
We pai-ticularly refer to » An Act to enlarge 
the Powers of Justices in determining com- 
plaints between Masters and Servants, und be- 
tween Masters, and Apprentices, Artificers, 
and others," which passed the Assembly the 
3rd day of July, 1834, while by police acts, es- 
pecially one regulating the town of Falmouth, 
our people will be dady harassed and annoyed. 
We think it right to inform your lordship, 
that tiie greater Vr*^ '^f ^'i°^° who hold the 
commission of magistrates are the very per- 
sons who, by their connection with the sod, are 
the most unfit, because the most interested, 
honestly to discharge then- important duties ; 
while their ignorance of the law is, in too 
many cases, equalled only by their love of 
tyranny and nrsrule. Time must work a 
rai'''hty change in the views of numbers who 
hold this office, ere they believe there is any 
derelict' on of duty in daily defrauding the hum- 
ble African. We cannot but entreat your 
3 



lordship to use those means which ate in your 
power to obtain tor the laborer, who imploring, 
ly looks to tlie Q,ueen for proLecuon, j'jslice at 
th3 hands of those by whom tlie law is adminis- 
tered. We must, indeed, be blind to all passing 
events, did we not see that, witliout the watch- 
ful care of the home government, the country 
district courts, held sometimes in the very 
habitations of those who wdl have to make the 
complaints, will be dens of injustice and cruelty, 
and that our hearts will again be lacerated by 
tlie oppressions under which our beloved peo- 
ple will groan. 

We beg to apprise your lordship, that we 
have every reason to believe tiiat an early at- 
tempt will be made to deprive the peasantry of 
their provision grounds — that they will not be 
permitted, even to rent them ; so that, by pro- 
ducing starvation and rendering the population 
entirely dependent upon foreign-supplies for the 
daily necessaHes of life, a lower rate of wages 
may be enforced. Cruel as this may appear 
to your lordship, and unlikely as it may seem, 
long experience has taught us that there is no 
possible baseness of which a slave-owner will 
not be ,!T.:ilty, and no means of accomplishing his 
purposes, however fraught with ruui to those 
around him, which he will not employ. 

Should the peasantry be thus treated, we 
shall feel it our duty humbly to implore that 
the lands belonging to the crown may be 
made available for their use. Your lordship 
will remember that these ill-treated people 
became not the subjects of her Majesty by 
choice, though they are now devotedly attached 
to her government. Thefr fathers were stolen 
and brought hither. On their native shores 
they had lands and possessions capable of supply- 
mg all their wants. If, then, after havmg 
toSed without remuneration, they are prevert- 
ed even renting a portion of land whicli has 
hitherto been esteemed as their own, we shall 
ask, and shall feel assured i\vd the boon will 
not be withheld, that her Most Gracious Majes- 
ty will throw open the lands belonging to 
the crown, where we may rctfre from the 
tyranny of man, and with our people find a 
peaceful and quiet home. 

Though still surrounded by obloquy and re- 
proach, though the most abusive epithets and 
lano-uac-e disgracefully vulgar has been employ- 
ed "to ° assail us, especially by a newspaper 
known to be under the patronage of a bishop, 
and in which all official accounts of his diocese 
are given to the world, yet we assure your 
lordship that, in endeavouring to promote the 
general interests and welfare of this colony, we 
shxU still pursue that line of conduct which is 
the result of our judgment, and in accordance 
with the dictates of our conscience. 

In no part of the island are arrangements 
made so fully or so fairly, as in those districts 
where our congregations reside, and in no part 
are the laborers more faithfully performing their 
duty. We deeply feel our responsibihty at the 



18 



WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION, IN 1838. 



present crisis, and pledging ourselves to your 
lord.'^hip and the BritisliGo vernment by the sacred 
office we hold, we assure you that ceaseless 
efforts shall still be exerted, as they Jiave ever 
been, to promote the peace and "happiness of 
those around us. 

In the name and on the behalf of our churches, 
for the sacred cause of freedom tliroughout the 
world, Vv'e unitedly implore your lordship to 
throw the shield of Britain's protection over 
those who are just made her loyal subjects. 
All they want, and all they ask is, that, as they 
are raised to the dignity, so they may receive 
all the rights of man, and that the nation who 
purchased them from bondage may fully secure 
to them that civil and rehgious liberty, to which 
both their imparalleled sufferings and their un- 
exampled patience so riclily entitle them. 

We cannot conclude this letter, without ex- 
pressing the high sense we entertain of the 
noble and disinterested conduct pijrsued by his 
Excellency Su- Lionel Smith, the Governor of 
this colony. But for his firmness, Jamaica 
would have presented aE the horrors of a civil 
war. 

Feeling assured that your lords] i-p will give 
that attentionto this letter which rhe subject 
demands, and with earnest prayer that this 
colony, now blest with liberty, may exhibit in- 
creasing prosperity, we are, ray lord, your most 
obedient servants, 

Signed by 

Thomas Bukchell John Clark 
William Knibb B. B. Dexter 
Thomas Abbott Samuel Oughton 
Walter Dendy J. Hutchins. 

Baptist Missionaries, North Side Union. 

[On the foregoing letter the London Sun has 
the following observations.] 

Every arrival from the West Indies but 
strengthens our conviction, that there never 
will be happiness, security, or peace for the 
emancipated negroes, so long as the administra- 
tion of the laws, and the management of the 
plantations, are continued in the hands of those 
white officials whose occupation, previous to the 
passing of the emancipation act, consisted in 
torturing and tormenting them with impunity. 
They cannot endure to witness the elevation to 
the rank of free, intelligent, and well-behaved 
fellow-citizens, of a class of beings whom they 
were accustomed to treat a myriad of times 
worse than they did the " beasts that perish." 
Having pronounced them incapable of civiliza- 
tion, and strangers to all the better feelings of 
our nature, they deem it a sort of duty to them- 
selves to employ every artifice to neutralize or 
retard every measure calculated to ameliorate 
the moral and social condition of the negro 
race. Several of the colonial agents have pow- 
erful inducemonti3 to the provocation of some 
insurrectionary outbreak, on the part of the 
colored population. In the first place, such an 
emute would fulfil their predictions with regard 
to the passing the Emancipation Act, and so 



establish their reputation as seers ; and in the 
next, it would lead to the sale of many of the 
plantations at one-sixth their real value, and so 
transform them from agents to principles, as 
they would not fail to be the purchasers. That 
such is their pohcy cannot, we thmk,be doubted 
for a moment by those who will take the trouble 
to peruse a letter addressed by eight Baptist 
missionaries, long resident in Jamaica, to Lord 
Glenelg, which will be found in another part of 
TVie Sun. These missionaries, we are assured, 
are men of irreproachable lives, of indefatigable 
christian zeal, and of conversation becoming 
persons whose sacred office it is to preach tlie 
gospel of peace. That their representation will 
produce a powerful effect upon the minds of the 
people of this country, we feel as confident as 
we do that our gracious Queen will concede 
any boon in her royal gift, necessary to the 
welfare of her colored subjects." 

The following are a series of letters to Mr, 
Sturge, published in the British Emancipator 
for Nov. 28, 1838. The one from a Special 
Justice clearly developes the principal causes 
of the backwardness of the laborers. The 
testimony of this letter to some important facts 
will be fully confirmed by that of the Governor 
of Jamaica. The evidence of extortion sub- 
mitted by the missionaries is so exphcit, that we 
beg the attention of the reader to all the de- 
tails. Remember the experiment involves the 
claims of millions to that without which hfe is 
httle better than a curse. Every thing hangs 
on the inquiry whether the emancipated or their 
former masters are chargeable with whatever 
there is of ruin in the " fine island" of Jamaica. 
Says Mr. Sturge, in laying these letters before 
the public, " it should be clearly understood that 
the fee simple of all negro houses in Jamaica is 
not worth j£10 each on an average, arid that 
their provision grounds have been brought 
into cultivation by the negroes themselves in 
their oiun time." 

Extract of a letter from a Missionary : — 
Savannah-la-Mar, Sept. 8, 1838. 

Mt Dear Sir, — Vou are probably aware 
that the following question has been submitted 
by the Governor to the Attorney-General for 
his opinion : 

(copy.) 

(No. 844.) King' House, Aug. 27, 1838. 

Sir, — I ain desired by the Governor to re- 
quest you will give your opinion for general pub- 
lication. 1st. Whether in instances of notices 
to quit their houses and grounds, having been 
served upon the late ajjprentices, they are lia- 
ble to be made to pay rent for the occupation 
of such liouse?, during the three months al- 
lowed by law ? 

(opinion.) 
They are. 
(Signed,) D O'Reill . 

We shall soon see the evil effects of this 
opinion, it being generally previously understood 
that the late apprenticed population would not 



WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION, IN 1838. 



19 



be liable for rent until tlie three months had 
expired, alter receiving notice to quit. 

As a specimen of this being made an instru- 
ment of great oppression in the hands of man- 
agers of estates, I would state that two notices 
were yesterday brought to brotlier Hutchins 
for Iiis inspection ; one was served upon David 
Clarke, a labourer, on King's Valley estate, in 
Uiis parish. On the back of the notice to quit 
was written as under ; — 

*' The rent of your house and grounds is 
twenty-one pounds six shillings and eight pence, 
per annum, commencing 1st of August, 183S, 
if legal. 

(Signed) J. H. Jones. 

Mr. Sturge appends the following West 
India accounts, wJiich he says are in his posses- 
sion by which it is evident that the planters are 
bringing 'heir laborers in debt to them, by a 
spirit of shameless extortion. 

Charles Duncan to John Dixon Dr 
1838. Sept. 1.5. To rent of house 
and ground, from 1st of August to 
date, 6s. 6d. per week. 2 3 9j 

Cr. By balance, five days, Is. 8d. per day 

8 4 



1 15 5i 

Charles Brown, to John Dixon, Dr. 
1838. Sept. 13. To rent of house 
and ground, 6s. 8d. per week, 
from 1st Aug. to date. 2 1 10 

Charge for runnuig a sow and pigs, 
from 1st Aug, to date, 2s. 6. per 
week . . . 15 Si 



2 17 6j 

John Alfred Bullock to John Dixon, Dr. 
1638. Sept. 15. To rent of house 

and garden, from 1st of Aug. 

to date, 6s. 8d. ptr week, 2 3 9i 

Rent of provision ground, 5s. per 

week, 1 12 6 

Pasturage, two weeks, for an ags, 

6s. 3d. per month, 3 4 

Two hogs. Is. 8d. per week, 1 1 10} 



Cr. By two days' labour. Is. 
8d. per day 



5 1 6i 
3 4 



4 18 2J 

LETTER TO MR. STORGE, FROM A SPECIAL JUSTICE. 

Jamaica, Oct. XWi, 1838. 
Freedom has brought with ii tlie blessings we 
anlicipued; and as we progress in civilizalioa 
we shall all be happier. I have ever been san- 
guine as lo its beneficial resulis, and I am not in 
the lea>l disappointed. I cannot fimi lauguase 
sufficienily strong to express the commendation 
due to ihj negroe-; for their steady and good 
conduct since the 1st of August. Amidst the 
most trying circums'ances they have exhibited 
the greate.^t forbearance, and placed their whole 
reliance on ihe laws for protection. I am satis- 
fied that no other natioa of fiee men could con- 



duct themselves so temperately and wrll, under 
similar ciicum-laiices ; and in mv rpiimn, they 
have proved themsilves ii.finiiely sup rii r lo 
many of ihose who so lately exercised almost 
unlimited Cijnirul over them. I declare ti vou, 
to see such a mass of persons, wh.'se m nals 
have been little regarded by those who held 
them in slavery, and without education, lise all 
at once, and expiess and conduct themselves so 
admirably, ii wonderlul. When seeking re- 
dress before the magistrates for wrongs com- 
miticd by their former owners they have maia- 
taiued more coolness and (emper than their 
more fortunate brethren, when mat ers are de- 
cided against them. There is a hard struggle 
on the part of the pro-slavery fac iun t j compel 
the negro to work for little or nothing, in order 
that the attorneys and overseers may k ep their 
places as before; and 1 am inlormed, by a gen- 
tleman whose veracity is not to be doubted, and 
who i> himself nn attorney, that he can s ill 
keep his overseer and merchant as in lormer 
days, draw his own comai'ssions, and send 
home to hi< employer a very handsome surplus. 
Under such circum>tances, well may the Iriends 
of fieedjin cry shame at the opposition which 
has for so long a time been thrown in the way 
of liberty, by the-^e West Indians of practical 
kuDwledge. The facts are, that the absent pro- 
prietors have been led by the advice th -y have 
received from their attotneys; and these have 
had so many ways ot making more than an 
honest commission, and have so speedily made 
their fortunes, that as long as they could con- 
tinue slavery, they have e.verted eveiy influ- 
ence. The overseer was paid, housed, lei, and 
waited upon, all at ihe expense of master and 
slave, besides keeping a fine s uduf hor>es, and 
as many brood mares at pasture on the pro^ erty 
as would enable him to dispose of seven or 
eig it prime mules annually ; and so long as he 
drove and tormented the poor negro, and made 
good crops for the attorney's commissions, and 
supplied his horses with corn, ihesi:: little -per- 
quisiies were never discovered. Now the pro- 
prietor will hardly pay for more labor than is 
absolutely nece-sary to grow and tuanulac ure 
the produce of his e<ta'e; and the-e gentlemen 
must henceforth look to their own resources, 
for the payment of servants to attend and lake 
care of iheir own interests and comforts. An 
overseer's situation on an esiaie making 300 
hogsheads, was calculated in slavery lobe equal 
to 2 000/. a year. Indeed, no man in any town 
could have lived in such luxury for that sum. 
If the proprietor would only come out, and live 
prudently, he would save all this by res d ng 
on his property, which he could easily manage 
by emploving, for extra wages, his former 
steady head people. They, from Ions residence, 
know the best manner of working the land; and, 
as to the manufacture of sugar, they are the 
persons who -have all their lives been working 
at it. The most important part of an overseer 
and book keeper's busine-s was to make use of 
their eyes. Tne negro had to mike use of his 
legs, arms and strength ; and, in nine cases out 
of ten, his brains kept the white people in their 
situations, by preventing matters from going 
wrong. 
I perfectly coincide with you, as to the pro- 



90 



WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION, IN 1838. 



priety of the negro speedily becomins; possess- 
ed or the elective ir.inchise. In Antigua there 
is ve y little more Imd than is in cu tivation 
for tl<e estatf-s, but h-re it is widely different; 
and they are b ginning to settle themselves by 
purchasing Siiiall lot-; very fast. At Sligoville 
there are nfarly fifiy new freeholders. The 
negroes are taught to do this by the perpetual 
worry of their employers, threatening to oust 
them on every trifling occasion, aud withhold- 
inar part of iheir wa^es on the plea of non-per- 
formance of wor k. — Thn root of all evil is the 
As.seinb^ and the Juries. Nothing requires 
greater alteration; and I shall nev>-r rest, until 
I see the blaek man stand the same chance at 
the bar of his country a>the white man. — The 
nei'roes will not wori< under their former hard 
task-mai-ters.. They determinaiely resist all 
solicitations to libor with ihose who treated 
them ill. They say that the pain is gone, but 
the mark remains, and I respect them for this 
proud feeling. * * * * 

*^ * * * * * * 

I have come under his displeasure for taking 
the opinion of Middleton and McDougal, as to 
the legality of charging the negro hiieiorhis 
house and grounds, ior:he three montlis during 
which ihe notices to quit are lunni- r.— Had 
we not taken these opinions, what a fo i lul state 
things might we have been brougln to in this 
country ! 1 am quite satisfied that no rent could 
be recovered until ihe expiration of the three 
months, from which time it would commence 
to run, and the plaintiff would in law be con- 
sidered in po-sessionol his lands again, which, 
in slavery, he was compelled to give to his 
slave for his support and maintenance. He 
must re-enter before he could demand rent, for 
it is impossible for him to prove a contract, or 
imply one. The negro did not willingly come 
from Africa, and occupy his land ; he was toi'n 
from his native land, and compelled by his 
owner, under laws that took his life, not to quit 
the land; how therefore can he be considered 
to have made a contract, or consented to one 1 

FROM THE REV. J. KINGDON. 

Manchioncal, Oct. 9, 1838. 
In passing through Hector's River great 
house yard, in my way to my preaching spot, I 
have the most sensilrle demonstra'ion of the 
reality of the political change happily brought 
about ; for that hot-hou.<;e, in which I have seen 
one of my own members in irons for having a 
bad sore leg, and in which I have been gro-sly 
insulted for darins to go to see my poor people 
— that hou-e is shut up! Delightful, I assure 
you, are mv feelings, whenever I go by that 
place, attached to which, too, was the old-time 
prison, a perfect charnel-house. 

PROM THE REV. S. O0GHTON. 

lAi^cea, October 2, 1838. 
Unused lo acts of justice and humanity, the 
Planters, in a moment of mad excitement passed 
an act to ab lish the accursed system of Slive- 
rv. The debates on that occasion proved wi h 
wnat an ill grace they perf 'rmed that scanty 
act of ju-tiee, and all experience since that 
period proves how bitterly ihej repent it. It is 
true, we are not now, as before, distressed by 
hearmg recitals of barbarous corporeal punish- 



ments, and we are no longer pained by Peeing 
human b.inss chained to ench othi r by the 
neck; but, although craeliy has, to a cert lin ex- 
tent, ceased, oppression has b come ten thou- 
sand times moie rampant tlian ever Every 
act whit h ingenuity or malice cm invent, is 
employed to harass the poor negroes Prior to 
August Isi, the planter studious'y avoided 
every thing like an arrangement with the la- 
borer, an.l when, on the following Monday, 
they turned out to work, the paltry pittance ot 
12jd. (7id- sterl ) was all that in tie majority of 
cases wa< offered for the services of an able- 
bodied negro, although 2s. 6d. per day (curren- 
cy), had bef'ie been invariably exacted from 
them, when thty were desirou-^ of purchasing 
the remaining term ot the apprenticeship. Of 
course, the people refu-ed to receive so paltry 
a remuneration for their labour, and this has 
laid the foundation for a course of systematic 
oppression scarcely conceivable. Notices to 
quit were served indiscriminately on eveiy one, 
old and young, sick and healthy. Medical at- 
tendance was refused, and even a dose of phy- 
sic fiom the Estates' hospitals. Cattle were 
turned intothe provision-grounds of the negroes, 
thus destroying their only mean'; of support ; 
and assaults of the most vvanion and brutal des- 
ciip;ii n were committed on many of the pea- 
santry. On one estate the proprietor end his 
brother assaulted a young man Iti the most un- 
provoked manner. One presented a pi>tid to 
his breast, and threatened to shoot him; while 
the o.her levelled a gun at his head for the same 
purpose. They were bound over to take their 
trial at the Gluarter Sessions ; but what hope is 
there in such a tribunal as that, composed prin- 
cipally of men engaged in the same reckless 
course, and banded together by mutual inter- 
ests! On another estate (Content), the attorney 
ordered the cattle of a poor man (a member of 
my Chapel) to be taken up and impounded. It 
was done, and the man was obliged to pay 6Z. 
to redeem them ; when, as soon as he carried 
them back, they were again taken and im- 

Jiounded. The man has been to my house with 
lis case of oppression, on my return from 
Kingston. He states that he exhausted his last 
farthing to redeem the cattle the fi .st time, and 
was also oblieed to borrow of his friend^; they 
have now been i.-rpounded five weeks, and un- 
less he can raise the money to redeem them 
(upwards of lOL), (hey W'll be sold to pay the 
expenses. Thus is an honest and worthy man, 
in a few weeks, stripped of every thii^g which, 
by years of industry and care, he had accumu- 
lated for the comlbrt of his old age, or the be- 
nefit of his family. Yesterday a negro came 
and informed me that the owner of a ])roperty 
had told him last year, that he must cultivate 
more eround, so as to be able to continue pos- 
session as a tenant J and now that he has done 
so, another person, saying that he had purchased 
the property, came a tew days ago, and told 
him that in three weeks he would drive him 
from the place. He then ordered a man whom 
he had with him to climb a bread-fruit tree, 
and pull the fruit, which he fprcib'y carried 
away to give to his hogs. But I ' must for- 
bear: were I to state half the cases of op- 
pression which have occurred in Hanovei; 



WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION, IN 1838. 



21 



since August 1st, I should require a volume 
instead of a sheet. I thiuk, however, I have 
said enough to prove ihe bitter and rancorous 
spirit which at pre,-ent animates the planters. 
Enclosed I send a specimen of another artiface 
adopted to harass and distress the negroes. 1 hey 
have adopted ihenolion(sanctioned by the opin- 
ion of the old Planters' Jackall, Batty, and the 
Attorney General), that the people ai e liable to 
pay rent Wbr houses and grounds during the 
three months' po>se>sion to which the Abo.ition 
Act entitled them, and notices have been serv- 
ed on the people, d. mmdinji the mist 'jX^rava- 
.'ant amouuis for the mi-.erable sheds which the 
people inhabited. Y..u will perceive that in 
once case 211. 6s. 9d. has been demanded. 1 Ins 
conscientious demand was made by John 
Houcrliton James, Executor and Attorney for 
Sir Simon Clark. Another is Irom a Mr. 
Bowen, of Orchard Esiate ; and the third from 
Mr Brockett, of Hopewell and Content Estates, 
the p.operty of Mr. Miles, M. P for Bristol. 
Let ft be borne iu mind that these shamelul and 
exorbitant demands are ml made, as in Eng- 
land, on the head of the family only, but on 
every member loho is able to do the least work, and 
even litte children have papers demanding 2s. 
fid. per week for ground, al.h mgh unabe to do 
the Ica^t thing : one of these I al?o enclose^ 

Ja;naic.,ss. N..tice is hereby Given, That 
the sum of eisht shillings and four pence, week- 
ly, will be exacted from you and each ot you 
respectively, for the houses and grounds at Or- 
chard Esatp, in the parish of Hanover, from 
August of the present year, until the expira- 
tion of the three months' notice, from its period 
of service to quit; or to ihe period of sur- 
rendering to me the peaceable possesion ot the 
aforesaid house and provision grounds. 

J. R. BoWEN. 

Dated this I7th day of Sep. 1838. 

To James Darling and Sarah Darling, oi 
the parish of Hanover. 

Here then, my dear Sir, you may perceive 
something of the atrocious proceedings in the 
island of Jamaica. Pray insert these docu- 
ments in the Emancipator. Let the Anti-slavery 
friends know the state of things, and urge them 
to redoubled diligence. The House of Assem- 
bly will meet on the 30th instant, and then, 1 
fear dreadful measures will be taken. A let- 
ter from Mr. Harker, of the Jamaica Royal 
Gazet'e, about a forimght since, addressed to 
Mr Abbott, shows what absolute and cruel sta- 
tutes they would wish either to act upon, or to 
make the models t-f new laws. Every act 
must be watched with the most jealous scru- 
linv. Experience shows that the planters pos- 
sess an ingenuity truly diabolical, in twisting 
and distorting the laws to suit their own sd- 
iish puipose. Our hope is in British Chris- 
tians; and we confidently hope every one of 
ihem will feel the importance of increased di- 
ligence, lest the great, and long prayed-loi 
boon of freedom, should become a curse, in- 
stead of a blessing. The papers will in orm 
vou of the odium I have drawn on myselt in 
Lfending the people's rights. That contained 
in the great mass, only provokes a smile, i 
know that every friend in England will inter- 
pret it inversely. I did feel Mr. ■ s 



letter in the Falmouth Post, but he knows his 
error, and is sorry for it. 1 could have an- 
swered it, but did not choose to cau-e a divi- 
sion amongst the lew friends of ihe negro, 
when they had quite enough to do to withstand 
the attacks of their enemies. 

FROM TUG REV. J. M. PIIILIPPO, 

Spanish Town, Oct. 13, 1838 
The following is one of the seven of the 
same tenor now in my posse^sion, uhich will, 
in addition to those I forwaided by hi.st mail, 
inform you of the cause of the late disinclina- 
tion of the people in some districts to labour- 
which, with >o much eff'rontery, has been pro- 
claimed through the public Journals heie :— 

Charles Michael Kelly and "Wife, to J. S. 
Benbow, Dr. 

1830: July 14th to Sept. 9th. 

1. To the rent of house and 

ground on Casile Kelly 
plantation, for eight weeks, 
at 6s. 8d. per week - 3/. 13 4 

2. Richard Kelly and Wife. Same. 

3. E'enor Mercer. Same. 

4. John Ried and Wife. Same. 

5. Mary Ann Christie. Same. 

6. Venus Owen (or such like name) Same. 

•FROM THE REV. J. HUTCHINS. 

Savanna-la-Mn.r, S'pt. 17, 1838. 
I now, according to promise in my list, send 
you a few out of the many cases I am almost 
houily troub'ed with. Some of our w.'uld-be 
"•real men are, I am sorry to say, haiassing the 
poor free labourers shamefully ; and should it 
prove, as I think in some cases it must, ol seri- 
ous injury to the absentee proprietors, 1 shall 
publish the cases of grievance brought me, to- 
gether with the names of the estates, owners, at- 
torneys, overseers, &c., and leave all partiesto 
form their own opinion on the subject. 

Amelia Martin, to Retrieve Estate, Dr. 
1838: August 29. 
To house and ground, rent at 
5s. per week, from 1st Au- 
gust to date - - - 4Z. 
♦Alliac Davis, ground rent at 

lOd. per week - - 3 

♦William Davis ; ditto ditt 3 4 

Al. 6 4 

Thos. Tate, Esq. is Attorney, and Mr. Comry 

Overseer, 

• Boys from 9 to 11, her sons. 

Louisa Patter, to Retrieve Estate, Dr. 
1838 : Aug. 28. 
To house and ground from 1st 

Aug. to date - - - 1^ 
She states she has been sickly so long, that 
she has no ground in cultivation, and cannot 
help herself, and has only what yams her Iriends 
give her. 

Susan James, to Albany Estate, Dr. 
1838: Aug. 28. 
To house and ground rent at 
5s. per week, from 1st Au- 
gu4,todate - - - ),'•:? J 
Thos. He welt, ground rent - " ^s a 
Elizabeth James, ditto - - o iJ ^ 



22 



WEST IJNDIA EMANCIPATION, IN 1838. 



Mary Dunn, ditto - 
Letiiia, ditto * 



10 
(J 8 

3/. 3 4 



*These are a mother and four children in 
one house, and with but one ground, they tell 
me. 

Richard Warren, to Albany Estate, Dr. 

1838 : Aus. 28. 
To house and ground rent to 

date - - - - IZ. 

Wile 15 4 

Child 10 

2/. 5 4 

* The child is quite young, and in daily at- 
tendance at one of my schools. 

On this properly, under the same managers as 
Retrieve, the people state that they are going 
on shamefully. " The last Sabbath but one, 
when wc were at service, Stephen Campbell, the 
book-keeper, and Edward Pulsey, old-time con- 
stable, come round and mark all for we house, 
and charge for cbery one of we family. We don't 
know what kind of fee dis we hab at all ; for wc 
attorney, Mr. Tate, neber come on we property, 
leave all to Mr. Comcoy. We peak to him for 
make bargain, him say him can't make law, 
and him no make bargain till him heare what 
law come out in packet. Him say dcm who 
make bargain are fools ; beside him no call up a 
parcel of niggers to hold sarvice wid me ; should 
only get laughed at. So we know not what for 
do. You are for wc minister, and for we only 
friend ; and if you did not adwise we to go on 
work till things settle down, we no lift another 
hoc. We would left the property." Unless an 
arrangement is soon entered into, I shall advise 
them to do so. 

James Grcenheld, to New Ga'.loway Estate, Dr. 
To one week's rent of house, garden, and 

ground, aad to 5 ditto for his wife, Margaret 

Greenfield, at 5s, per week. £1 10 

J. G. states, ' 1 come for massa. When we 
make bargain with Mr McNeal, it was a mac- 
caroni (Is. 8J.) a day, and for we house and 
ground. Me is able and willing for work, so let 
ray wife stop home ; so him charge me dcsamn 
sum for my wife, as for me own house and 
ground. And den last week me sick and get no 
money, and they charge me over again, (as above) 
one week me sick. Mc no able for say what to 
call dat massa, me sure." 

I leave with you to make your own comments, 
and to do what you please with the above. Al- 
tliougli my chapel is .£700 in debt, and my 
schools, one of 180 and one of IGO scholars, are 
heavy, very heavy on me, I cannot do other than 
advise my people to save every mite, buy an acre 
of land, and by tliat means b:; independent, and 
job about wherever they may be wanted. 

PIIOM THE REV. T. BURCIIHLL. 

Montego Bay, October 2, 1838. 
The reason why 1 have not written to you so 
long, is the intensely anxious time we hive 
had. 1 feel, however, thai ii is high lime now 



to address you ; for, if our friends in England 
relax their eflorts, my conviction is, Itiat free- 
dom will be more in name than io reality, in 
thiN slave-holding Island. 'I'here is nothing to 
be feared, if the nuble band of friends who have 
so long and .so succrsslully stiuggled, will but 
continue their assistance a shon time longer. 
The planters have made a desperaie srugglc, 
and so, 1 have no doubt, will the Hou>e of As- 
sembly, against the emancipattd negroes. My 
firm conviction has been, and still is, that the 
planiers have endeavored, by the offer of the 
most paltry wages, to reduce the eondiiion of 
the laborer, and make him as badly od as he 
was when an apprentice or a slave, that he 
may curse the day ihai made him Iree. 

I'housh unable to conduct ihe usual services 
on Sunday ihe 5ih August, at the close I ad- 
dressed the congregation, urging upon them 
the n^cessity ol commencing iheir work on the 
following day, whether arrangements were 
made between themselves and their masters of 
not ; as, by so d ling, ihey would put it out of 
the power of their opponents to say anything 
evil of them. They assembled, and on Mon- 
day the 6th thousands turned out to work, and 
continued to labjr, unless prevented by the 
Manager, until nrrangemenls were made. 

You will remember, that prior to the 1st of 
August, a while man who hired out a gang of 
appi entices to an estate was paid at ihe rate of 
is. 6d. sterling per diem for each able laborer. 
The apprentice received the same when he 
worked for the estate on his own days, Friday 
and Siturday; and whenever they were va- 
lued for the purpose of purchasing the remain- 
ing time of thtir apprenticeship, the planter 
upon oath stated that their services were wor'h 
at least Is. 6. pel diem to the estate, and the ap- 
prentice had to redeem himself at that rate. 

After the 1st of August, the planters dis- 
covered, that, whilst the properties would well 
afford to continue the lavish and cxiritvagam 
expenditure in managing the es'ates, " ii 
would be certain ruin to the proppriies, if the 
labourer was paid more ihan 7id. per diem, 
for the 1st class of labourers, (Jd. the 2nd 
class, and 4jd. for the 3rd class:" and why 1 
1 IciidW not why, unless it was because the long 
oppressed negro was to put the money into his 
own pocket, and not his white oppressors. This 
seems to have made all the difference. The 
above wages were accordingly offered, and re- 
jected with scoin ; t^ie people feeling the great- 
est indignation at the atrocious atiempt of their 
old oppressors to grind them down now they 
are free, and keep them in a state of degrada- 
tion. The greatest confusion and ilis'irder en- 
sued ; the labourers indignant at the conduct 
of their masters, and the planters eniaged 
against ihc people, fir pre-uming to ihmk and 
act for themselves. As a matter of couise, the 
fury of the planters was directed against half a 
dozen Baptist missionaries, and as many more 
friends and stipendiary Masistratc:-; and lean 
assure you thai the Jamaica f re-s ctinalled its 
most vituperniive days and came forth worthy 
of itself. The Desjiatch, or the Old Jamaica 
Couranl, so w>-ll known in 183-J Ibradvoc iiing 
the burning of chapels, and the hat ging of 
missionaries, was quite in the shade. The pious 



WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION, IN 1838. 



S3 



Polypheme, the Bishop's paper, Avith the Ja- 
maica Standaidofinlamy and lalsehood, pub- 
lished in this town, took the lead, and a preity 
standard it is. Let foreigners judge oi Jamaica 
by the Jamaica Standaid of August last, and 
they must suppose it is an island of savages, or 
a little hell. The press teemed with abuse of 
the most savage nature against us, and publish- 
ed the most tiarefdced lies. That, however, 
you who know the generality of the Jamaica 
Pres<, will say is nothing new or strange; 
well, it is not, nor do we regard any statements 
they make; for no one believes what they pub- 
lish, and it is a source of gratification to us that 
we have never forfeited our character or prin- 
ciples in the estimation of the reflecting, the 
philanthropist, or the Christian public, by 
meriting their approbation. 

In the midst of this seemingly general con- 
spiracy to defraud the laborer of his wages 
by exorbitant rents, &c. Sir Lionel Smith, the 
Governor, proceeds from district to district, 
giving advice to both of the contending par- 
ties, and striving to promote a mutual under- 
standing. His testimony to the designs of the 
planters given to their faces, and not de- 
nied, is very important ; we give therefore 
one of his meetings, as we find it reported in 
the Jamaica papers Here is a rather familiar 
conversation among some of the chief men of 
that island — where can we expect to find more 
authoritative testimony ] 

StR, LIONEI, smith's VISIT TO DUNSINANE. 

His Excellency, Sir Lionel Smith, visited 
Dunsinane on Thursday last, agreeably to ar- 
rangements previously entered into, for the 
purpose of addressing the late apprenticed 
population in that neighborhood, on the pro- 
priety of resuming the cultivation of the soil. 
About two miles from Dunsinane, his Excel- 
lency was mot by a cavalcade composed of the 
late apprentices, who were p'^eceded by 
Messrs. Bourne, Hamilton, and Kent, late 
Special Justices. On the arrival of his Excel- 
lency at Dunsinane, he was met by the Hon. 
Joseph Gordon, Gustos, the Lord Bishop attend- 
ed by his Secretary, and the Rev. Alexander' 
Campbell ; the Hon. Hector Mitchel, Mayor of 
Kingston, and a large number of highly re- 
spectable planters, proprietors, and attorneys. 
His Excellency, on being seated in the dwel. 
ling, said, that from information which he had 
received from other parishes, and facts gather- 
ed from personal observation, he believed that 
the same bone of contention existed there as 
elsewhere — a source of discontent brought 
about by the planters serving the people with 
nwtices to quit their houses and grounds. He 
did not question their right to do so, or the 
legality of such a proceeding, but he ques- 
tioned the prudence of the step. The great 
change from slavery to unrestricted freedom 
surely deserved some consideration. Things 
cannot so soon be quiet and calm. Depend 
upon it, nothing will be done by force. Much 
may be by conciliation and prudence. Do 



away with every emblem of slavery; throw 
off the Kilmarnock cap, and adopt m its stead, 
like rational men, Britannia's cap of hberty. 
He (Sir Lionel) doubted not the right of the 
planters to lent tlicir houses and grounds; in 
order to be more certain on that head, he 
had procured the opinion of the Attorney Gen- 
eral ; but the exercise of tiie right by the 
planter, and getting the people to work, were 
very different matters. Much difficulty must 
be felt in getting rid of slavery. Even in the 
little island of Antigua, it had taken six months 
to get matters into a quiet state ; but here, in 
a large country like Jamaica, could it be ex- 
pected to be done in a day, and was it because 
it was not done, that the planters were to be 
opposed to him 1 You are all in arms against 
me (said his Excellency,) but all I ask of you 
is to exercise patience, and all will be right. 1 
have done, and am doing all in my power for 
the good of my country. If you have served 
the people with notices to quit, with a view to 
compel them to work, or thinking to force them 
to work for a certain rate of wages, you have 
done wrong. Coercive measures will never 
succeed. In Vere, which I lately visited, the 
planters have agreed to give the people Is. 
8d. per day, and to let them have their houses 
and grounds for three months free of charge. 
His Excellency, on seeing some symptoms of 
disapprobation manifested, said, Well, if you 
cannot afiijrd to pay so much, pay v.-hat you 
can afford ; but above all, use conciliatory 
measures, and I have not a doubt on my mind 
but that the people will g-^ to their work. See- 
ing so many planters present, he should be hap- 
py if they would come to an arrangement 
among themselves, before he addressed the 
people outside. 

Mr. Wellwood Htslop remarked, that 
Vere and'Kther rich sugar parishes might be 
able to pay high rates of wages, because the 
land yielded profitable crops, but in this district 
it was impossible to follow the example of those 
parishes. He thought that two bits a day 
might do very well, but that was as much as 
could be afforded. 

His Excellency said that in Manchester, 
where he believed he had more enemies than 
in any other parish, he had advised them to 
work by the piece, and it had been found to 
answer well. 

Mr. HiNTON East said that he would submit 
a measure which he thought would be approved 
of. He proposed that the people should be paid 
5s. for four days' labor; that if they cleaned 
more than 130 trees per day, either themselves 
or by bringing out their wives and children, 
they should be paid extra wages in the same 
proportion. 

Mr. Andrew Simpson said that he could 
not afford to pay the rates named by his Ex- 
cellency. It was entirely out of the question ; 
that a good deal depended upon the state the 
fields are in — that his people, for instance, 



24 



WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION, IN 1838. 



could, with much ease, if they chose, clean 170 
trees by half-past three o'clock. 

Mr. Mason, of St. George's, said he was 
willing to pay his people Is. 8d. per day, if they 
would but work ; but the fact was that they 
refused to do so, on account of the stories that 
"had been told them by Special Justice Fisii- 
boume ; v/illingly too would I have given them 
their houses and grounds for three months, 
free of charge, had they shown a desire to 
labor ; but vviiat was the lamentable fact ''■ 
the people would not work, because Mr. Fish- 
bourne had influenced them not to do so, and 
he (Mr. Mason) had been a loser of one thou- 
sand pounds in consequence. He had been 
compelled in self-defence to issue summonses 
affainst two of his people. He had purchased 
his property — it was liis all — he had sacrificed 
twenty of the best years of his life as a planter, 
he had a wife and family to support, and what 
was the prospect before him and them 1 He 
admitted iiaving served notices on his people 
to quit their houses — in truth he did not now 
rare whether they were or were not located on 
the property — he was willing to pay fair, nay, 
, high wages, but the demand was exorbitant. 
He had a servant, a trustworthy white man, 
who laboured from day-dawn to sunset for 2s. 
id. per day, and he was quite satisfied. All the 
mischief in his district had been owing to the 
poisonous stories poured into the ears of tiie 
people by Special Justice Fishbourne. If he 
were removed, the parish might probably as- 
sume a healthy state ; if allowed to remam, no 
improvement could possibly take place. 

His Excellency said that the Assembly 
had passed a law preventing the special magis- 
trates from going on the estates ; they could 
not, however, prevent the people fi-om going to 
them, and taking their advice if they wished it. 
He had understood that the people had gone to 
the special magistrates, informing them that 
the planters demanded 3s. 4d. per week rent 
for the houses and grounds, and that they had 
been advised, if such were the case, that they 
ought to be paid higher wages. He understood 
that to be a fact. 

Mr. Andrew Simpson said that the people 
would, he had no doubt, have worked, but for 
the pernicious advice of Mr. Fishbourne. Ho 
had heard that the people had been told that the 
Governor did not wish fhcm to work, and that 
he would be vexed with them if they did. 

Sir Lionel replied that lie was aware that 
white men were going about the country dis- 
guised as policemen, pretending to hare his 
(Sir Lionel's) authority, tolling the people not 
to work. He knew well their intention and 
design, he understood the trick. You are anx- 
ious (said his Excellency) to produce a panic, 
to rcfluce the value of property, to create dis- 
may, in order that you may speculate, by re- 
ducing the present value of property ; but you 
will be disappointed, notwitlistanding a press 
Bends fortii daily abuse against me, and black- 



guard and comtemptible remarks against my 
acts. I assure you I am up to your tricks. 

Mr. Andrew Simpson would be glad if his 
Excellency would speak individually. There 
was a paper called the West Indian, and ano- 
ther the Colonial Freeman. He wished to 
know whether his Excellency meant either of 
those papers. [Some slight interruption here 
took place, several gentlemen speaking at the 
same time.] 

His Excellency said he had not come to 
discuss politics; but to endeavour to get the peo- 
ple to work, and it would be well for them to 
turn their attention to that subject. 

Mr. Simpson said he had a gang wlio had 
jobbed by the acre, and had done well, but it 
was unfortunate in other respects to observe 
the disinclination shown by the laborers to 
work. He wished them to know that they 
must work, and trusted that his Excellency 
would endeavour to force them to labor. 

Sir Lionel — 1 can't compel them to do as 
you would wish, nor have I the power of for- 
cing them to labor. The people will not suf- 
fer Ihemselves to be driven by means of the 
cart-whip. It is the policy of every man to 
make the best bargain he can. I can say no- 
thing to the people about houses and grounds, 
and price of wages. 1 can only ask them to 
work. 

Mr. Wiles said that the planters were anx- 
ious to come to amicable arrangements with 
the people, but they were unreasonable in their 
demands. The planters could not consent to 
be injured — they must profit by their proper- 
ties. 

Mr. Mason said, that the only bone of con- 
tention was the subject of rent. His people 
v.'ere outside waiting to be satisfied on that 
head. He hesitated not to say, that the pro- 
prietors were entitled to rent In every instance 
where the laborer was unwilling to labor, and 
unless that subject was ac once settled, it would 
involve both parties in endless disagreement. 
He was not one of those persons alluded to by 
his Excellency, who circulated misrepresenta- 
tions for private benefit, nor was he aware that 
any one in the parish in which he lived had dopo 
so. All that he desired was the good of the 
country, with which his interests were identi- 
fied. 

Sir Lionel — I could not possibly be personal 
towards any gentleman present, for I have not 
the honour of knowing most of you. My ob- 
servations were not confined (o any particular 
parish, but to the Island of Jamaica, in which 
the occurrences named have taken place. 

Dr. Rapky, of St. George's — If your Excelr 
lency will only do away witii a certain magis- 
trate, things will go on smoothly in the parish 
of St. George. This gentioman has told tlie 
people that they are entitled to the lands occu- 
pied by tiiem, in consequence of which the pa- 
rish is now in an unsettled state. 

Sir Lionel — Who is the magistrate ! 



WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION, IN 1838, 



25 



T)r Rapkt— Mr. Fishbourne. 
Sn- LioNEL-I am afraid I cannot please you. 
Tlfe qSS of possession of lands and houses 
has fort rpresent been settled by the opinion 
oni!? AttorLy^General, but it is stdl an unde- 
termined question at law. There are many 
"In'the island who are ot opinion tha^^^ti^^ 
le'nslature had not so intended ; he (Sir Lionel) 
w£ at a loss to know what they meant ; see- 
bo- however, some members ol the assembly 
prfsenlperhaps they would be disposed to give 

'I^lZI^ said, that It was the mton 
tion of the legislature that rent should be paid. 
H "tbou.htirtair that Is. 8d. per day should be 
^Werei tlie people to work t ve days m t e 
week, they returning one day s labor tor the 
hnime:? and trrounds. ■ i ^u * 

Mr Special Justice Hamilton said that 
comp aS had been made to him, that in many 
Sees where the husband and ^vafe lived m 
the ame house, rent had been demanded o 
both The laborers had, in consequence, been 
thrown into a state of consternation and alarm, 
E accounted for the unsettled state of seve- 
ral Soonrties-a serious bone of contention nad 
n consCence been procluced He held a no- 
tice in his hand demanding of a laborer the 
enormous sum of 10s. per week for house and 
So™d. He had seen other notices in which 
is 8d. and 5.. had been demanded for the same 
He did not consider that the parties issmng those 
notices had acted with prudence. 

Mr Htslop explained-He admitted the 
charge, but said that the sum was never rnten- 

't?i5:.Sr2tihe was aware of what wa. 
aoin^on ; he had heard of it. It was a policy 
whicli ought no longer to be pursued. 

We have given the foregoing documents, full 
and mifed, that our readers might fairly 
j^d.e fSr themselves. We have "ot picked 
here a sentence and there a sentence, buo let 
Se Governor, the Assembly, the MisBionanes^ 
and the press tell their whole story. Let them 
be read, compared, and weighed. _, ,^., 

We mi^ht indefinitely prolong our extracts 
from the West India papers to show, not only 
fnTegrd to the important island of Jamaica but 

Barbados and several other «.f "^f' t^J^^he 
former masters are alone guilty of the non- 
woAing of the emancipated, so far as they re 
fS to work. But we think we have already 
pToduced^roof enough to establish the following 

points: — 

1. That there was a strong predisposition on 
the nart of the Jamaica planters to defraud theu: 
aboSers of their wages' They hoped that by 
S\Z before they were driven quite to the 
E tt;emity, by t4 tide of public sentrnent 
in England, they should escape from all pMan 

thropic interference and f "^^^^l^"'^^' ^^nPa 
able to bring the faces of their unyoked pea- 
gantry to the grmdstone of inadequate wages, 
a That the emancipated were not only 



peaceful in tlieir new freedom, but ready to 
^a nt an amnesty of all past abuses, and enter 
cheerfully into the employ of their former mas- 
ters for reasonable wages. That in cases where 
disagreement has arisen as to the rate of daily 
or weekly wages, the labourers have been rea- 
dy to engage in task work, to be paid by the 
piece, and have laboured so efficienUy and pro- 
fitably— proving a strong disposition tor mdus- 
try and the acquisition of property. 

3 That in the face of this good disposition ot 
the 'laborers, the planters have, in many cases, 
refused to give adequate wages. 

4 That in still more numerous caees, mclud- 
in<T many in which the wages have been appa- 
rently liberal, enormous extortion has been prac- 
iced upon the laborer, in the form ot rent d^ 
manded for his hovel and provision pa ch-i-" 
per annum being demanded for a shanty not. 
Lrth half that nToney, and rent being irequent- 
ly demanded from every member ot a tan y 
more than should have been taken from the 
whole. 

•i That the negroes are able to look out tor 
the^; J^?n interest,%nd have ^;ery distinct ideas 
of their own about the value of money and the 
worth of heir labour, as well as the best meU^ 
Xof bringing their employers to reasonable 
terms. On this pomt we might "^^l^""^^ J 
still strontrer case by quoting from the De^patcn 
?nd stndard, whic'h a-ert numerous u^an^^^^ 
in which the labourers have refused to ork for 
wacres recommended to them by the Gov ernor 
Special Macristrates, or Missionaries, hough 
fh?y offered to work for 3s 4d., 5:'.,cra do ar a 
day. They are shovra to be rare bargam-mak- 
ers and not easily trapped. 

6 That the attorneys and managers have 
deliberately endeavoured to raise a panic, where- 
by property might be depreciated to their own 
aSag?;"h''owmg cleily therebj", that Uiey 
consider'jamaica property, «ven wnt^i the 1^^^^^ 
ers, irreclaimably free, a desu-able investment. 

7. That in spite of all their efforts, the great 
body of the laborers continue "^^"stnous, do- 
in<T more work in the same time than m slaye- 
'"? The testimony to tUs very rmportantTcnnt, 
^the Governor and House of Assembly, v. per- 
tctlv conclusive, as we have already saul. A 
house that represents the very «nen wno n 
iRf^9 burnt the missionary chapels, and denea 
SbS Parliament wiih the threat, that m 
the t5misn ra j -isiate Abolition, Ja- 

SawJdatS 

"ow HOPES for the agricultural prosperity of 
r island! Indeed no one in Jamaica express- 
Is a doubt on this subject who does not o n^ 
ouslvdo BO for tUsake of buying land to htter 
£n?a4 ' Were the colony a shade "-or^e off 
ttTheL Emancipation, either in fact or in 
tte olion of its landholders, or of any coiis.d 

Sable portion of persons acquainted wU^^^^^^^^ 
inevitable consequence would be ad.pT^ciahon 

of real $state. But what is the fact 1 said itev. 



WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION, IN 1838. 



John Clark, a Jamaica Baptist Missionary, who 
has visited this country since the first of August, 
in a letter published in tlie Journal of Com- 
vierce : — 

" The Island ol Jamaica is not in the deplor- 
able state set forth by your correspondent. — 
Land is rising in value so rapidly, tliat what was 
bought five years ago at 3 dollars per acre, is 
now selling for 15 dollars ; and tiiis m the inte- 
rior of the Island, in a parish not reckoned the 
most healthy, and sixteen miles distant from the 
nearest town. Crops are better than in the 
days of slavery — extra labour is easily obtained 
where kindness and justice are exercised to- 
wards the people. Tlie hopes of proprietors are 
p*eat, and larger sums are being offered for 
estates than were offered previous to August, 
1834, when estates, and negroes upon them, 
were disposed of together." 

Again, as in Jamaica commerce rests wholly 
upon agriculture, its institutions can only flou- 
lish'in a flourisjiing condition of the latter. — 
What then are we to infer from an imposing 
prospectus which appears m the island papers, 
commencing thus ; — 

« Kingston, October 26, 1838 

"Jamaica Maruie, Fire, and Life Assurance 

" Company. 

"Capital £100,000, 

" In 5000 Shares of £20 each. 

' It has been long a matter of astonishment 
that, m a community so essentially mercantile 
as Jamaica, no Company should have been 
formed for the purpose of effecting Insurance 
on Life and Property; although it cannot be 
doubted for an instant, tliat not only would such 
an establishment be highly useful to all classes 
of the community, but that it must yield a hand- 
some return to such persons as may be inclined 
to invest their money in it,'' &,c. 

Farther down in the prospectus we are told — 
" It may here be stated, that the scheme for 
the formation of this Company has been men- 
tioned to some of the principal Merchants and 
(xentlemeji of the Country, and has met with 
decidedly favourable notice : and it is expected 
that the shares, a large number of which have 
been already taken, will be rapidly disposed of. 

The same paper, the Morning Journal, from 
which we make this extract, informs us : Nov. 
2d— 

" The shares subscribed for yesterday, in tlie 
Marine Fire and Life Insurance Company, we 
understand, amount to the almost unprecedent- 
ed number of One Thousand Six Hundred, 
with a number of applicants whose names have 
not been added to the list." 

The Mornit)g Journal cf October 20th in re- 
marking upon this project says : — 

•' Jamaica is now happily a free country ; she 
contains within herself the means of becoming 
prosperous. Let lior sons dovclope those re- 
sources which Lord Belmore with so much 
truth declared never would be developed unLil 



slavery had ceased. She has her Banfrs. — Give 
her, in addition, her Loan Society, her Ma- 
rine, Fh-e, and hfe Assurance Company, and 
some others that will shortly be proposed, and 
capital will flow in from other countries — pro- 
perty will acquire a value in the market, that 
will increase with the increase of wealth, and 
she will yet be a flourishing island, and her in- 
habitants a happy and contented people." 

Now men desperately in debt might invite in 
foreign capital for temporary relief, but, since 
the cumpensalion, this is understood iiot to be 
the case with the Jamaica planters ; and if 
they are rushing into speculation, it must be 
because they have strong hope of the safety and 
prosperity of their country — in other words, 
because they confide in the system of free la- 
bor. This one prospectus, coupled with its 
prompt success, is sufficient to prove the false- 
hood of all the stories so industriously retailed 
among us from the Standard and the Des- 
patch. But speculators and large capitalists 
are not the only men who confide in the suc- 
cess of the " great experiment." 

The following editorial notice in the Morning 
Journal of a recent date speaks volumes : — 

SAVINGS BANK. 

" We were asked not many days ago how 
the Savings Bank in this City was getting on. 
We answered well, very well hideed. By a 
notification published in our paper of Saturday, 
it will be seen that j£1600 has been placed in 
the hands of the Receiver-General. By the 
establishment of these Banks, a great deal of 
the money now locked up, and which yields no 
return whatever to the possessors, and is liable 
to be stolen, will be brought into circulation. 
This circumstance of itself ought to operate as 
a powerful inducement to those parishes in 
which no Banks are yet established to be up 
and doing. We have got some five or six of 
them fairly underweigh, as Jack would say, 
and hope the remainder will speedily trip their 
anchors and follow." 

We believe banks were not known in the 
West Indies before the 1st of August 1834. 
Says the Spanishtown Telegraph of May 1st, 
1837, ^^ Banks, Siearn-Companks, Rail-Roads, 
Charity Schools, etc., seem all to have remain- 
ed dormant until the time arrived when Jamai- 
ca was to be enveloped in svwke .' No man 
tliouglit of hazarding his capital in an extensive 
banking establishment until Jamaica's ruin, by 
the introduction of freedom, had boon accom- 
plished !" And it was not till after the 1st of 
August, 1S38, that Jamaica had either sav- 
ings banks or savings. These institutions for 
the industrious classes came only with tiieir 
manhood. But why came they at all, if Eman- 
cipated industry is, or is likely to be, unsuc- 
cessful ? — In Barbados we notice the same for- 
wardness in founding monied institutions. A 
Bank is there proposed, with a capital of 
£200,000. More than this, the all absorbing 
subject in all the West India papers at the pre- 



WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION, IN 1838. 



.37 



sent moment is that of the currency. Why 
euch anxiety to provide the means of paying for 
labor which is to become valueless ? Why 
such keenness for a good circulating medium if 
they are to liave nothing to sell ? The com- 
plaints about the old fashioned coinage we ven- 
ture to assert have since the first of August oc- 
cupied five times as much space in the colonial 
papers, we might probably say in each and 
every one of them, as those of the non- working 
of the freemen. The inference is irresistible. 
The white colonists take it for granted that iTidus- 
try is to thrive. 

it may be proper to remark that the late re- 
fusal of the Jamaica legislature to fulfil its ap- 
propriate funciions has no connection with the 
working of freedom, any further than it may 
have been a struggle to get rid in some mea- 
sure of the surveillance of the mother country 
in order to coerce the labourer so far as possible 
by vagrant laws, &c. The immediate pretext was 
the passing of a law by the imperial Parliament 
for the regulation of prisons, which the House 
of Assembly declared a violation of that prin- 
ciple of their charter which forbids the mother- 
country to lay a tax on them without their con- 
sent, in as much as it authorized a crown of- 
ficer to impose a fine, ui a certain case, of j£20. 
A large majority considered this an infringe- 
ment of their prerogatives, and among them 
were some members who have nobly stood up 
for the slave in times of danger. The remarks 
of Mr. Osborn especially, on this subject, (he is 
'*■ the full blooded, slave-born, African man to 
whom we have already referred) are worthy 
of consideration in several points of view. Al- 
though he had always been a staunch advocate 
of the home government on the floor of the 
Assembly he now contended for the rights of 
the Jamaica legislature with arguments whicii 
to us republicans are certainly quite forcible. 
In a speech of some length, which appears very 
creditable to him throughout, he said — 

" Government could not be acting fair to- 
wards them to assume that the mass of the peo- 
ple of this island would remain in the state of 
political indifference to which poverty and sla- 
very had reduced them. They were now free, 
every man to rise as rapidly as he could ; and 
the day was not very distant when it would be 
demonstrated by the change of representatives 
that would be seen in that house. It did ap- 
pear to him, that under the pretext of extend • 
ing the privileges of freemen to the mass of the 
people of this country, the government was 
about to deprive them of those privileges, by 
curtailing the power of the representative As- 
eembly of those very people. He could not 
bring himself to admit, with any regard for 
truth, that the late apprentices could now be 
oppressed ; they were quite aJive to their own 
interests, and were now capable of taking care 
of themselves. So long as labor was marketa- 
ble, so long they could resist oppression, while 
on the other hand, the proprietor, for his own 



interest's sake, would be compelled to deal feir- 
ly with them." 

Though it is evidently all important that the 
same public opinion which has wrested the 
whip from the master should continue to watch 
his proceedings as an employer of freemen, 
there is much truth in the speech of this black 
representative and alderman of Kingston. The 
b:"italized and reckless attorneys and mana- 
^^rs, may possibly succeed in driving the ne- 
groes from the estates by exorbitant" rent and 
low wages. They may succeed hi their effort 
to buy in property at half its value. But when 
they have effected that, they will be totally de- 
penaent for the profits of their ill-gotten gains 
upon the free laboring people. They may pro- 
duce what they call idleness now, and a great 
deal of vexation and suffering. But land is 
plenty, and the laborers, if thrust from the 
estates, will take it up, and become still more 
independent. Reasonable wages tiiey will be 
able to command, and for such they' are wil- 
ling to labor. The few thousand whites or 
Jamaica will never be able to establish sla- 
very, or any thing like it, over its 3t)0,000 
blacks. 

Already they are fain to swallow their preju- 
dice against color. Mr. Jordon, member for 
Kingston and " free nigger," was listened to 
with respect. Nay more, his argumont was 
copied into the " Protest" which the legislature 
proudly flung back in the face of Parliament, 
along with the abolition of the apprenticeship, 
in return for Lord Glenelg's Bill'. Let all in 
the United States read and ponder it who as- 
sert that " the two races cannot live together 
on terms of equahty." 

" Legislative independence of Jamaica has 
ever been the pride of her Englisli conquerors. 
They have received with joy the colored fellow 
colonists into an equal participation of their 
valued liberty, and they were prepared to re- 
joice at the extension of the constitution to the 
emancipated blacks. But the British Govern- 
ment, by a great fault, if not a crime, has, at 
the moment when all should have been free, 
torn from the lately ascendant class, the pri- 
vileges which were their birthright, another 
class, now the equals of the former, the rights 
they had long and fortunately struggled for, 
and from the emancipated blacks the rights 
which they fondly expected to enjoy with their 
persona! freedom. The boon of earlier free- 
dom will not compensate this most numerous 
part of our population for the injustice and 
wrong done to tlie whole Jamaica people." 

The documents already adduced are con- 
fined almost exclusively to Jamaica. We will 
refer briefly to ■ane of the other colonies. The 
next in importance is 

BARBADOS. 

Here has been played nearly the same game 
in regard to wages, and with tJie same results. 
We are now furnished with advices from the 



28 



WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION, IN 1838. 



island down to the 19th of December 1839. 
At the latter date the panic making papers had 
tapered down their complainings to a very faint 
whisper, and witlial expressing more hope than 
fears. As the fruit of what tliey had already 
done we are told by one of them, Ihe Barba- 
dian, that tiie unfavourable news carried home 
by the packets after the emancipation had serv- 
ed to ra'se the price of sugar in England, which 
object being accomphshed, it is hoped that they 
will intermit the manufacture of such news. 
Tlie first and most important document, and 
indeed of itself sufficient to save the trouble of 
giving more, is tlio comparison of crime during 
two and a half montlis of freedom, and the cor- 
responding two and a half months of slavery or 
apprenticeship last year, submitted to the legis- 
lature at the opening of its session in the latter 
part of October. Here it is. We hope it will 
be held up before every slave holder. 

From the Barbadian of Dec. 1. 

Barbailos. — Conmarative Table, exhibiting the number 
of ComiJlaints preferred against the Apprenlice population 
of this Colony, in the mo .tlis of August, September and 
to the 15ih of October, 1S38 ; niii-etlier with tlie Complaints 
charged against Free Labourers of the same Colony, du- 
ring the months of August, September and to the loth of 
October, 1S33. The lorn)'r compiled from tlic Monthly 
Journals of the i^pecial Justice ot the Peace ai/d tlie lat- 
trr from the Returns of the Local Magistracy transmitted 
to his excellency tlie Governor 

" Apprenticeship. 

Total of Complaints vs. Apprentices from the 

1st to 3l8t August 1837. 1703 

Ditt'i from the 1st to 30th September 146-1 

Ditto from the 1st to loth October 374 

Grand Total 3746 
Total nun.berof Apprentices punished from the 

1st to 31st August 16C3 

Ditto fr.im 1st to 3M September 1321 

Ditto from the 1st to loth October 361 

Grand Total 3490 
Total compromised, admonished and dismissed 

from 1st to 31st August 103 

Ditto from the Is', to aOtli September 113 

Ditto from 1st to iJth October 33 

Total 256 

Deficiency in compromised cases in 1837 com- 
paratively with those of 1838 138 

Grand Total 414 
"Freedom. 
Total of Complaints vs. L.ibourors from the 

Isi to th« 31st August iy:;s 532 

Ditto from the 1st to the 30(b September 336 

Ditto from the Isl K. tlie lotli October 103 

Total 1071 
Comparative Surplus of Complaints in 1838 2073 

Grand Total 3748 
Total of Laborer" punished Irom the 1st to 

the 31st AU!,'U3t, 1818, ■ 334 

Ditto from the 1st t" 30th September ii70 

Ditto from the 1st to 15th October 33 

Total 6 -.7 
Comparative surplus of punishment in 1837 2A33 

Grand total 34U0 
Total conipromi>"od, ndmor.ished and dismissed 

from tli(- Ut to tbeXlst .\ueu-t ~43 

Ditto from the 1st lo 3i)lh September HR 

Ditto from the l&t to 15tli October SO 

Grand Total 414 



"NOTE. 
" It may be proper to remark that the aocompsuyin^ 
General Abstract for August, September, and tothelSti? 
October, 1837, does not include complaiuts jireferrcd a:.J 
heard before the Local Magistraicrs during those months 
for such offences — viz. for misdemeanors, petty dubt^ 
assaults and peity thtfts — as were tint cognisable by the 
Special Justices j so that estimating these offences— the 
number of which does not appe.xr in the Abstract for lfi37 
— at a similar number as tiiat enumerated in the Abstr.'ict 
for 1833, the actual relative difference of punishii.eiitE be- 
tween tlie two and a hall nionlhs iu 1SS7 and those in 
1838, would thus appear: 

" Surplus of Apprentices punished in 1837, as 

above 2633 

" Ofl"ci;ccs iu August, September, and to the 
15ih, October, 1837 heard before the General 
Jiiitices of ilio Peace, and ectiraated as fol- 
lows: 

Petty thefts 75 

Assaults 143 

Misdemeanors 98 

Petty Debts 19— 303 

Actual surplus of piinislimcnt in 1837, 3169 
From the Journal of Commerce. 
Letter from W. R. Hays, Esq. Barbados, W. I 
to Rev. H. G. Ludloic, of New Haven. 

. Barbados, Dec. 26, 1838. 
I gave you in my last, some account of the 
mannrr in which the first day of emancipation 
came and went in thi.s Island. We very soou 
afterwards received similar accounis from all 
the neighboring islands. In all of them the day 
was celebrated as an occasion " of devout 
thanksgiving and prai^c to God, for the happy 
termination of slavery." In all of them, the 
change tookplace in a manner highly creditable 
to the emancipated, and intensely g.-'aiifying to 
the frcnds of liberty. The quiet, good order, 
and solemnity of the day, were every where re- 
markable. Indeed, is it not a fact worth re- 
memberipg, that wheieas in former years, a 
single day'A relaxation from labor was met by 
the slaves wilh t-houtirg and revelry, and mer- 
rv-making, yet now, wh^3n ihe last link of slave- 
ry was broken f.irever, sobriety and decorum 
were especially the order of the day. The per- 
lect order and subordination to the laws, which 
marked the fir^t day of Au2ust,areyet unbroken. 
We have now nearly five months' experience 
of entire ■ emancipation ; and I venture to 
say, that a period of more prof und peace never 
existed in the West Indies. There, have been 
disputes ab ut wagos, as in New England and 
in other free count: ies; but no concert, no 
combination even, liere;. and the only attempt 
at a combination was among the planters, \o 
keep down wages— and that but for a short 
timeonly. 1 will not enter particul-.uly intoihc 
question's whether or not the people will cor- 
tinue to work for v;ages, whether thev will re- 
main quiet,— or on the other hand, uhether the 
Island will be suffered to become desolate, and 
the ficed slaves relapse into barbarism, &c. 
These things have been sp"culated a^out, and 
g'oomv predictions have bad ibeir day: the 
time has now rome for the proof. Pe p'e do 
not buy land and houses, and lent property for 
long terms of years, in countrifs where life is 
insecure, or where labor cannot be had, and the 
tendency of things is to rnin and duay. In 
short, men, in their senses, do not embark on 
board a sinking sliip. Confid. nee is ihe very 
soul of prosperity ; of the existence oi this con- 



WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION, IN 1838. 



29 



fidence in this Island,the immense operations in 
redl esiate, since the first of Augu-i, are abund- 
EQt pro if. There are multitudss uf instaoces 
in wh ch estates have sold lor Sii"^0,000 more 
than was asked for them six months ago ; and 
and yet at that time they were co sidered very 
high A proprietor v. ho was peisuailed a few 
weeks since to part with his estate lor a 
very large sura of money, went and bought 
it back again at an advance of $1)600. A great 
many lon^ leasesof properly have been entered 
into. All estate cailea ' Edg.^combe," men- 
lioiiedby Thome and Kimball, has been rented 
for 31 ye.irs at 35~500 ( er annum. Another 
called th : " Hope" lias been rented for 10 years 
at £3000 sterling, equal to fcOGOO per annum. 
Another, after being rented at a high price, 
was re let, by the lessee, who became entirely 
absolve 1 from the contract, and took $16,000 
for his bargain. If required, I could give you 
a host of -similar cases, with ihe names of the 
parties. Bat it seems unnecessary. The mere 
impuLse given to the value of property in ihis 
island by emancipation, is a thing as notorious 
Acre, as Ihe fact ol emancipation. 

But, are not crimes more irequent than be- 
fore 1 I have now before me a Barbad js 
newspaper, printed two weeks since, in which 
the fact is stated, that in ail the county prisons, 
among i population of 80,000, only tico pris- 
oners were confined for any cause whatever ! 

" But," says a believer in the necessity cf 
Colonization, '' how will you get rid of the 
negroes T' I answer b/ adverting to the spec- 
tacle which is now witr.essed in all the Islands 
of the former proprietjrs of slaves, noiv employ- 
ers of free laborers, using everv endeavor to 
prevent emigration. Trinidad, Demcara, and 
Berbic-, iraai laborers. The former has pass- 
ed a law to pay the pa'^sage mone',' of any la- 
barer who comes to the Island, leaviu? him free 
to choose his employment. D-meiaraand Ber- 
bice have sent Emigration agents to this and 
other iilmds, lo induce the laborers to join 
those colonies, offering high wages, good treat- 
ment, &". On the o her hand, Barbados, 
Grenada, St. Vincent, and all the old and po- 
pulous islands, individually and collectively, by 
lesislative resolves, legal enactments, &c. &c. 
— loudly protest that tney have not a man to 
iparc! What is still better, the old island pro- 
prietors are on every haid building new houses 
for the peasantry, and with great forethought 
addini: to their comfort; knowing that they 
will thereby secure their contentment on their 
native s )il. As a pleasing in-^tance of the good 
nnder^iinding which now exists between pro- 
prietors and laborers, I will mention, that 
^reat numbers of the former were in town on 
rite 24;h, buying upp irk, hams, rice, &c. as pre- 
sents for their people on the ensuing Christ- 
mas; a day which has this year passed by 
mid scenes of quiet Sabbath devotions, a 
..'.riking contrast to the tumult and drunkenness 
of form T times. I cannot close this subject, 
without beating my tcstim ny to the coneet- 
ness of the sta:emen's made by our country- 
men, Thome and Kimbiil. They were hig^h- 
ly esteemel here by all cUT^ses, and had free 
acees.s to every source of valuable information. 



If they have not done justice to the subject ot 
their book, it is bicause the manifold blessings 
of a deliverance fiom slaveiy are beyond the 
powers of language to lepresent. W hen I at- 
tempt, as I have done in this letter, lo enumer- 
ate a few ol them, I know not where to begin, 
or where to end. One mu I sec, in order to 
know and feel how unspeakalbe aboon these isl- 
ands have received, — a boon, which is by no 
means confined to the cmancipattd shives ; but, 
like the dews and rains of heaven, it lell upon 
all the inhabitants of the land, bond and Iree, 
rich and p or, t(gcther. 

it is a common thing here, when you hear 
one speak of the b nefits of emancipation — the 
remark — thai it oughi to have laken place long 
ago. Some say fifty years ago, some twenty, 
and some, that at any rate it ought to have tak- 
en place all at once, wi-hout any apprentice- 
ship. The noon-day sun is'not clemer than 
the fact, that no preparation was requiied ou 
the pari of the slaves. It was the dictate if an 
accusing conscience, that foretold of bloodshed, 
and burning, and devas.ation. Can it be sup- 
posed to be an accidental circumstance, that 
peace and good-will have uniformly, in all the 
colonies, followed the steps of emancipation. 
Is it not father the broad seal of atie&tationto that 
heaven born principle, " It is safe to do right " 
Dear broiher, if you or any other friend to 
down trodden humanity, have any lingering 
fear that the blaze of light which is now goins: 
forth from the islands will ever be quencoed, 
even for a moment, dismiss that Tar. The 
light, instead of g- owing dim, will continue to 
brighten. Your prayers for the safe and hap- 
py introduction of freedom, upon a soil long 
trodden by the foot of slavery, may be turned 
into praises — for the event has come to pass. 
When shall we be able to rrjoice in such a con- 
summation in our beloved America ■? Howl 
longtosee a deputation of slaveholdeis making 
the tour of these islands. It would only be ne- 
cessary for them to use their eyes aud ears. 
Argument would be quite out ot place. Even 
an appeal to p.'inciple— to compassion— to the 
tear of God — would not be needed. Self-in- 
terest alone would decide them in favor of im- 
mediate emancipation. 

Ever yours, 

W. R. HAYES. 

DEMERARA. 

SPEECH OP THE GOVERNOR, ON OPENING THE-SF.V 
SION OP THE COURT OF POLICY. SEPT. 17, 1838. 

From the Guiana Royal Gazette- 
" I should fail in my duty to the public, and 
perhaps, not re-pond lo the expectations of your- 
selves. Gentlemen of the Colonial Section of 
this Honorable Court, did I not say a few words 
on the Slate of the Colony, at thi-; our first meet- 
ing afi er the memorable first ol August. 

" We are now approaching the close of the 
second month since that daie— a sufficient time 
to enable us to jud?e of the good disposition of 
the new race of Freemen, but not perhap>ofihe 
prosperity of the Colony. If is a proud thing 
for the Colonists — Proprietois and Emplovers — 
that nothing has occurred to indicate a want of 



WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION, IN 1838. 



Ijood fieling in the great body of the laborers. 
It is I reducible to ihem, satisfactory lo their em- 
ployeis, and coi fi^uuding lo those who aniici- 
paied a contrary state of affairs. 

" That pirlial changes of location should 
have laKen place, cannot surprise any reasona- 
ble mind— that men who have all their lives 
b.-en subject to connpulsory labor should, on 
having ihis labor left to their discretion, be dis- 
p.-sed at first to relax, and, in some instances, 
loially abstain from it, was equally to be expect- 
ed. But we have no reason to despond, nor to 
inragine that, because such has occurred Id 
iome districis, it will continue. 

" It is sufficient that the ignorant have been 
undeceived iu their exaggerated notions of their 
rights as Freemen : it was the first step towards 
re-UNiption of labor in every part of the Colony. 
The patient forbearance of the Employers has 
product d great thanges. If some Estates have 
been di appointed in the amount of labor per- 
formed, others again, and I have reason to be- 
lieve a great number, are doing well. It is well 
known that the Peasantry have not taken to a 
wanderii g life : they are not lost to the culti- 
vated parts of the Colony: for the reports 
hiihei to received from the Superintendents of 
Rivers and Creeks make no mention of an aug- 
uieuted population in the disiant parts of their 
respective dis' riots. 

" I hear of few commitments, except in this 
town, where, of course, many of the idle have 
ti eked from the country. On the East Coast, 
there has been only one case brought before the 
High Sherift''s Court since the 1st of August. 
In the last Circuit, not one ! 

" With these facts before us, we may, I trust, 
anticipate the continu- d prosperity of the Colo- 
ny ; and though it be possible there may be a 
diminution in the exports of the staple commo- 
dities in this and the succeeding quarter, yet 
we must take into consideration that the season 
had been unfavorab'e, in some districts, pre- 
vious to the 1st August, therefore a larger pro- 
porti(nof the crops remained uncut ; and we 
may ask, whether a continuance of compulsory 
labor would have produced a more favorable 
result ■? Our united efforts will, I trust, not be 
warning to base individual prosperity on the 
welfare of all." 

The Governor of Demerara is Henry Light, 
Esq., a gentlemen who seems strongly inclined 
to court the old slavery party and determined to 
shew his want of affinity to the abolitionists. In 
another speech delivered on a similar occasion, 
he says : 

*' Many of the new freemen may still be said 
to be in their infancy of freedom, and like chil- 
dren are wayward. On many of the tsinli.s ihty 
have repaid ihe kindness and forbearance of 
their masters ; on others they have continued 
to take advantage of (what 1 the kindness and 
forbearance of their masters 1 Wo.) their new 
condition, are idle or irregular in their work. 
The good sense of the mass gives me reason to 
hope ihai idleness will be the exception, not the 
rule." 

The Barbadian of Nov. 28, remarks, that of 
six districts in Demerara whose conditicn had 
been reported, ^re were working favorably. In 



the sixth the laborers were standing out tor 
higher wages. 

TRINIDAD. 

In the Jamaica Morning Journal of Oct. 2d 
and 15th, we find the fjllowing paragraphs in 
relation lo this colony: 

" Trinidad. — The reports from the various 
districts as to the conduct of our laboring 
population, are as various and opposite, the 
(Standard says, to each other as it is possible for 
them to be. There are many of ihe Estates on 
which (he laborers had at tiist gone on steadily 
to work which now have scarcely a hand upon 
them, whilst upon others they musiera greater 
force than they could before command. We 
hear also that the people have already in many 
instances exhibited that propensity common lo 
the habits ot common life, which we call squat- 
ting, and to which we have ahvays looked for- 
ward as one of ihe evils likely to accompany 
their emancipation, and calling for the earliest 
and most serious attention of our Legislature. 
We must confess, however, that it is a subject 
not easy to deal with safely and effectually." 

'Trinidad, -The Standard says : " The state 
of the cultivation at present is said to be as far 
advanced as could have been anticipated under 
the new circumstances in which the Island 
stands. The weather throughou' the month ha.> 
been more than usually favorable to weedine. 
whilst there has also been sufficient rain to 
bring out the plants ; and many planters hav- 
ing, before the 1st of August, pushed on their 
weeding by free loior and (paid) extia tasks, 
the derangement in their customary labor 
which has been expeiienred since that period^ 
does not leave them much below an average 
progress." 

" Of the laborers, although they are far from 
being settled, we believe we may say, that they 
are not wt>rking badly ; indeed, c mpared with 
those of the sister colonies, they are both more 
industrious and more disposed to be on good 
terms with their late masters. Some few es- 
tates continue short of their usual compliment 
of hands ; but many of the laborers who had 
left the proprietors, have returned to them, 
whilst many others have changed their locality 
either to join iheir relations, or lo return to 
their haunts off rmer days. So iar as we can 
learn, nothing like insubordination or com- 
bination exists. We are also happy to say, that 
on some estates, the laborers have turned their 
attention to their provision grounds. There 
is one point, however, which few seem to com- 
prehend, which is, that although free, they can- 
not work one day and be idle the next, ad libi- 
tum." 

Later accounts mention that some thousand;? 
more of laborers were wanted to take o(l' th*> 
cro]), and that acommiitee of immigration had 
been appointed to obtain them. [See Amos 
Townsend's letter on the last page.] So it seems 
the free laborers are so good they want more 
of them. The same is notoriously true of De- 
merara, and Berbice. Instead of a colonization 
spirit lo get rid of the free blacks, the quarrel 
among ihe colonies is, which shall get the mo.«i. 
It is no wonder that the poor negroes in Trini- 



WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION, IN 1838. 



31 



dad should betake themselves to squatting. The 
island is thinly peopled and the adinioisiratiou 
ot justice is horribly corrupt, under the gov- 
ernorship and judgeship of Sir George Hill, 
ihe well known defaulter as Vice Treasurer 
of Ireland, on whose appointment Mr. O'Con- 
rell remarked that " delinquents might excuse 
themselves by referring to the case of their 
judge." 

GRENADA. 

" Grenada— The Gazette expresses its grati- 
fication at being able to record, that the ac- 
counts which have been received from several 
parts ot the country, are of a satisfactory na- 
ture. On many of the properties the peasan- 
try have, during the week, evinced a disposi- 
tion to resume their several accustomed avoca- 
tions, at the rates, and on the terms proposed 
by the directors of the respective estates, to 
which they were formerly belonging; and very 
little desire to change their residence has been 
manifested. Oae of our correspondents writes, 
that 'already, by a conciliatory method, and 
holding out the stimulus of e.xtra pay, in pro- 
portion to the quantity of work pt-rformed 
beyond that allowed to them, he had, ' suc- 
ceeded in obtaining, for three days, double the 
former average of work, rendered by the la- 
bors during the days of .-lavery ; and this, too, 
by four o'clock, at which hour it seems, they 
are now wishful of ceasing to work, and to ena- 
ble them to do so, they work continuously from 
tile time they return from their breakfast. 

" It is one decided opinion, the paper named 
says, that in a very short time the cultivation 
of the cane will be generally resumed, and all 
things continue to progress to the mutual sa- 
tisfaction of both empl'.yerand laborer. We 
shall feel indebted to our friends for such in- 
fjrmation, as it may be in their power to afford 
lis on this important subject, as it will tend to 
I heir advantage equally with that of their la- 
borers, from \(ie same being made public. We 
would wish also that permission be given as to 
mention the names of the properties on which 
matters have assumed a favorable aspect." 

Jamaica Morning Journal of Oct. 2. 
" Grenada. — According to the Free Press, it 
would appear that ' the proprietors and mana- 
gers of several estates in Duquesne Valley, and 
elsewhere, their patience bring worn out, and 
seeing the cultivation of their estates gjing to 
ruin, determined to put the law into operation, 
by compelling, after allowing twenty-three or 
twenty-four days of idleness, the people ei'her 
to work or to leave the estates. They resisted ; 
the aid of the magistrates and of the consta- 
bulary force was called in, but without effect, 
and actual violence was, we learn, used towards 
those who came to enfirce the law. A Ivices 
were immediately seni down to the Executive, 
despatched by a gentleman of the Troop, who 
reached town about half past five o'clock on 
Saturday morning last. We believe a Privy 
Council was summoned, nnd during the day, 
Capt. Clarke of the 1st West-India Regiment, 
and Government Secretary, Lieut. Mould of 
the Royal Engineers, and Lieut. Costabodie of 
the 70th, together with twenty men of the 70ih, 



and 20 of the 1st West India, embarked, to be 
conveyed by water to the scene of insubordina- 
tion. 

" ' We have not learnt the reception this force 
met with, from the laborers, but the results of 
the visit paid them were, that yesterday, there 
were at work, on four estates, none: on tleven 
others, 287 in all, and on another ail except 
three, who are in the hands of the magistrates. 
On one of the above properties, the great 
gang was, on Friday last, represented in the 
cane-piece by one old woman ! 

" 'The presence of the soldiers has had, it 
will be seen, some efTecf, yet still the prospects 
are far from encouraging ; a system of stock 
plundering, &c. is prevalent to a fearful desree, 
some gentlemen and the industrious laborers 
having had their fowls, &c. entirely carried 
off by the worthless criminals ; it is consola- 
tory, however, to be able to quote ihe following 
written, to us by a gentleman : " Although 
there are a good many people on the different 
estates, still obstinate and resisting either to 
work or to leave the properties, yet I hop ■ that 
if the military are posied at Samaritan for some 
time longer, they will come round, several of 
the very obstinate having done so already." 
Two negroes were sent down to goal on Mon- 
day last, to have their trial for assaulting the 
magistrates. 

" ' Such are the facts, as far as we have been 
able to ascertain them, which have atiended a 
rebellious demonstration among a portion of 
the laboring population, calculated to excite 
well-founded apprehension in the whole com- 
munity. Had earlier preventive measures been 
adopted, this open manifestation of a spirit of 
resistance to, and defiance of the law, might 
have been avoided. On this point, we have, in 
conempt of the time-serving reflections it has 
drawn upon us, freely and fearlessly expressed 
our opinion, and we shall now only remark, 
that matters having come to the pass we have 
stated, the Executive has adopted the only 
effective means to bring affairs again to a 
healthy state; fortunate is it for the colony, that 
this has been done, and we trust that the effects 
will be most benefieial." 

TOBAGO. 

The following testifies well for the ability of 
the emancipated to take care of themselves. 

" ' Tobago. — The Gazeite of this Island in- 
forms us that up to the period of its going to 
press, the account^ from the country, as to the 
disinclination of the laborers to turn out to 
work are much the same as we have given of 
last week. Early this morning parlies of them 
were seen passing through town in various 
directions, accompanied by their children, and 
carrying along wiih them their ground pro- 
visions, stock, &c. indicating a change of lo- 
cation. Whilst on many estates where per- 
emptory demands have been made that work 
be resumed, vr the laborers should leave the 
estate, downright refusal to do either the one 
or the other has been the reply ; and that replv 
has been accompanied by threat and menace of 
personal violence against any attempts to turn 
them out of their houses and grounds. In the 
transition of the laborers from a state of bon- 



32 



WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION, IN 1838. 



dage to freedom, much that in their manners 
and deportment would have biought them 
summarily under the coercion of the stipendia- 
ry magistrate, formerly, may now be practised 
with impuni:y ; and the fear is lest that nice 
discrimination betwixt restraints just terminat- 
ed and rights newly acquired, will not be 
clouded for some time, even in the minds of 
the authorities, before whom laborers are likely 
to be brought lor their transgression. Thus, 
although it may appear like an alarming con- 
federacy, the system of sending delegates, or 
head men, around the estates, which the !a- 
bjrers have adopted, as advisers, or agents, to 
promote general unan->'''v; it must be borne 
in mind that this is perlc justifiable ; and it 
is only where actual viol h?s been threat- 

ened by those delegates s' those who 

choose to work at under wb' .h. ,i the au- 
thorities can merely assure tlie. . of their pro- 
tection from violence.''— Alorning Jovr.jOct. 2. 
The Barbadian of November 21, says, " An 
agricultural report has been lately made of the 
windward dis^ict of the Island, which is fa- 
vorable as to the general working of the ne- 
gi oes." The same paper of November 28, says, 
" It is satisfactory to learn that 7nan7/ laborers 
in Ttbago are engaging more readily in agri- 
cultural operations." 

ST. VINCENT. 

"Saint. Vincent. — Our intelligence this 
week, observes the Gazette of 25lh August, 
from the country district's, is considerably more 
favorable than for ihe previous fortnight. In 
most of the leeward quarter, the people have, 
more or less, returned to work, with ihe ex- 
ception of very few estates, which we decline 
naming, as we trust that on these also they will 
resume their labor in a few days. The same 
may be said generally of the properties in St. 
George's parish ; and in the more oxiensive 
district of Charlotte, there is every prospect that 
the same example will be followed next week 
particularly in the Caraib country, where a few 
laborers on some properties have been at work 
during the present week, and the explanation 
and advice given iham by Mr. Special Justice 
Ross has been attended with the best effect, and 
we doubt not will so continue. In the Biabou 
quarter the laborers have resumed work in 
greater numbers than in other parts of the parish, 
and the exceptions in this, as in ether districts, 
we hope will continue but a short time." 

The Barbadian of November 21, sjieaks of 
a " megass house" set on fire in this island 
which the peasantry refused to extinguish, and 
adds that but half work is performed by the 
laborers in that parish. " Those of the adjoin- 
ing parish," it says, " are said to be working 
satisfactorily." In a subsequent paper we no- 
tice a report from the Chief of Police to the 
Lieuienant Govenor, which speaks favorably 
of the general working of the negroes, as far as 
he had been able to ascertain by inquiry into a 
district comprising one-third of the laborers. 

The New York Commercial Advertiser of 
February 25, has a communication from Amos 
Townsend, Esq., Cashier of the New Haven 
Bank; dated New Haven, February 21, 1839, 



from which we make the following extract. He 
says he obtained his information from one of 
the most extensive shipping houses in that city 
connected with the West India trade. 

" A Mr. Jackson, a planier from St. Vincents, 
has been in this city within a few days, and 
savs that the emancipation of the slaves on that 
island works extremely well; and that bis 
plantation produces more and yields a larger 
profit than it has ever done before. The eman- 
cipated slaves now do in eight hours what was 
before considered a two-days' task, end he pays 
the laborers a dollar a day. 

"Mr. Jackson further states that he, and Mr. 
Neljon, of Trinidad, with another gentleman 
from the same islands, have been to Washing- 
ton, and conferred with Mr. Calhoun and Mr. 
Clay, to endeavour to concert some plan to get 
colored laborers from this country to emigrate to 
these islands, as there is a great v:ant of hands. 
They offer one dollar a day for able bodied 
hands. The genilemen at Washington were 
pleased with the idea of thus disposing of the 
free blacks at the South, and would encourage 
their efiorts to induce that class of the colored 
people to emigrate. Mr. Calhoun remarked 
that it was the most feasible plan of colo- 
nizing the free blacks that had ever been sug- 
gested. 

" This is the amount of my information, and 
conaes in so direct a channel as leaves no room 
to doubt its correctness. What our southern 
champions will now say to this direct testimo- 
ny from their brother planters of the West In- 
dies, of the practicability and safety of imme- 
diate enxancipation, remains to be seen. Truly 
your's. Amos Townsexd, Jun. 

ST. LUCIA. 

Saint Lucia. — The Palladium states thai af- 
fairs are becoming worse eveiy day with the 
planters. Their properiies are left without la- 
bourers to work them ; their buildings broken 
into, storesand pioduce stolen, ground provis- 
ions destroyed, stock robbed, and they them- 
selves insulted and laughed at. 

On Saturday night, the Commissary of Po- 
lice arrived in town from the third and fourth 
districts, with some twenty or thirty prisoners, 
who had been convicted belore the Chief Jus- 
tice of having assaulted the police in the exe- 
cution of their duty, and sent to gaol. 

"It has been deemed necessary lo call for 
military aid with a view ol humbling the high 
and extravagant ideas entertained by the ex- 
apprentices upon the independence of their 
present condition; thirty-six men of the first 
West India regiment, and twelve of the seven- 
ty-fourth have been accordmglv despatched; 
the detachment embarked yesterday, on board 
Mr. Muter's schomor, the Louisa, lo land at 
Soufriere, and march into the interior." 

In both the above cases where the military 
was called out, the provocation was given by 
the whiter. And in both cases it was afterwards 
granted to be needless. Indeed, in the quell- 
ing of one of these factitious rebellions, tha 
prisoners taken were two white men, and one 
of them a manager. 



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